HARRY REDKNAPP IS LUVVERLY JUBBLY

IT'S a bit like Only Fools and Horses at Tottenham. They are always going to be millionaires - next year.

Even the players are getting a bit weary of promising big things in a coming season only having to revise predictions of success midway through.

Take last season. Spurs kicked off as many people's punt to break the top four and push for the Champions League. A European spot at the very least.

It was all based on the previous season's League Cup final win over Chelsea. A victory which itself obscured the fact that that season had actually started with high hopes of moving up a few significant notches in the Premier League. It has become a familiar cycle.

As Ledley King admits: "Over the past few years we keep starting out the season with real hope of breaking into the top four but it just hasn't happened. I think the time has come for us stop all the talking, just get on with it and see where we can get."

The trouble for Spurs after four consecutive seasons of missed opportunity is that the competition at the top is even tougher.Aston Villa and Everton have steadily improved - and now there is Manchester City.

Mind you, given the shambles they were at the start of last season before Juande Ramos was removed, Spurs should be grateful they are not in Newcastle's shoes right now. The form shown under Harry Redknapp to get to an eventual eighth-placed finish would have seen them probing the top four had they got off to anything like a decent start.

PETER CROUCH - talent

The challenge for Redknapp now is to prove he is capable of cajoling a team to lead from the front rather than overcoming the odds as he has done so successfully down the years at clubs with lesser expectations and resources.

It is one he relishes, a chance to prove he really can manage a big club.

Unlike predecessors Ramos, Martin Jol and Glenn Hoddle, Redknapp has not been blessed with a substantial summer budget, having spent over £40million in January to strengthen the squad enough to keep them up.

But the business of signing Peter Crouch for less than he should get for off-loading Darren Bent would appear a typically astute trade by the Spurs boss.

Crouch is just the sort of centre forward to bring the best out of players such as Luka Modric, Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe. And don't put it past Redknapp playing all four in games at White Hart Lane.

One of Crouch's biggest assets is his ability to bring more mobile players into the game with back-to-goal ball control that defies his awkward frame.

Crouch will get goals too and with so many attacking options one senses Tottenham could become one of the most exciting sides in the Premier League.

JERMAIN DEFOE - partnership

Modric, who blossomed after Redknapp arrived, will be key if Spurs are to unlock opponents in key games. So too will Aaron Lennon as he seeks to prove to Fabio Capello he should be in England's World Cup squad next summer along with Crouch and Defoe.

Providing the 21-year-old winger continues to improve his final ball and his finishing, Spurs have a potentially prolific front line.

If the back four can maintain the improved solidity shown after Redknapp's arrival they can take on the big sides.

But their pre-season was hindered by injuries to Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson and King's constant battle against dodgy knees too often deprives them of a player Capello also sees in his plans.

Redknapp may need to add to his squad at centre-half before the transfer window closes.

But it seems he has changed his mind about Huerelho Gomes and is prepared to show faith in the Brazil goalkeeper after his dramatic improvement in form following the arrival of goalkeeping coach Tony Parks.

That Spurs have proved strong enough to resist Inter Milan's pursuit of Jermaine Jenas suggests they have at last learned that selling their top stars has been one of the reasons they have kept failing to break into the big-time.

At least they start this season with a sense of stability. And Redknapp will feel deep down that Spurs can give it a real go.

If not to lift the title for the first time since 1961, then at least to make Arsenal feel they have real rivals on their north London doorstep again.

That and a proper tilt at an FA Cup they haven't lifted since 1991 would be luvverly jubberly for Spurs this season.

BIG HOPE: That Spurs can make a decent start to the season - unlike last year when they took just two points from their first eight games under Juande Ramos. Then maybe they can at last start to fulfil their potential and become a side capable of cementing a place in the top six and challenging the top four rather than just hoping for Cup success.

KEY IN: Peter Crouch (Portsmouth, £9m)

KEY OUT: Didier Zokora (Sevilla, £8.7m)

This article has 7 comments