• Premier League

'Levy enjoys sacking managers'

Jamie Redknapp has hit out at Daniel Levy's treatment of Tim Sherwood and claimed the Tottenham chairman's trigger-happy approach could scare off reputable replacements.

The club's former midfielder is a close friend of Sherwood after the pair played together for Spurs and is angry that the head coach is facing a summer exit just four months after being appointed.

It's been like this at Spurs for 30 years

Tim Sherwood keeps his emotions in check © Getty Images

• Lofty ambitions and diminishing returns have long been the nature of matters at White Hart Lane and Tim Sherwood is just the latest victim in the managerial hotseat.
• John Brewin explains why the club's former player and coach has accepted his time is almost up at Spurs here

"I don't know how many managers Levy has gone through in his time there but he does enjoy sacking managers," Redknapp said. "Because no one came out and said anything, I always felt Tim was a dead man walking there.

"Sometimes you've got to look at the people close to you, it's not always the managers that are making the mistakes. Sometimes the recruitment could have been better.

"Franco Baldini and Levy have to take some responsibility because which players have really come in after the sale of Gareth Bale and made an impact? Maybe you could say Christian Eriksen but apart from that there haven't been too many.

"If Tim Sherwood does leave at the end of the season, how can a Director of Football like Baldini keep his job? I find that amazing.

"The young managers get the sack and the people that bring the players in don't have any responsibility. The club looks like it is in disarray again. The fans deserve a lot more than they are getting."

Sherwood is facing what Tottenham have called a "review" at the end of the season but they issued a statement before Monday's 5-1 win against Sunderland which failed to give any indication they want to keep him on next season.

He was only appointed as Andre Villas-Boas's successor last December and was given an 18-month contract but a bright start has tailed off; the likelihood of missing out on a Champions League place and the impact of a 4-0 thrashing by Liverpool last month appears to have sealed his fate.

If he is stood down from his post Sherwood, the eighth manager to be appointed by Levy in 13 years, could be asked to take up a different role. However, he has made it clear that he would refuse to work as a No.2 to any replacement should the club decide to name a ninth.

"Tim was put into a position that wasn't easy," Redknapp told Sky Sports News. "A lot of the players that came in at the start of the season just haven't been good enough; the managers take the brunt of this. They've gone through two managers already.

Louis van Gaal is the favourite to take over from Tim Sherwood © Getty Images

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"They've got ideas of grandeur there, that's the problem. They think they have a divine right to be in the top four and the players aren't good enough. They've done it twice in the last 20-odd years, so all of a sudden they start thinking this is going to happen every year.

"They are miles off and until they get that [player recruitment] right it doesn't matter what manager they bring in - because Levy will keep sacking every manager they bring in.

"[Louis] van Gaal, [Mauricio] Pochettino - they're good managers; they're not silly.That's not the sort of club that gives a manager a great deal of time and your reputation could be as high as kite and then go to Tottenham, lose a couple of games, get sacked and all of a sudden you're scrapping around for another job."

Van Gaal heads a long list of well-regarded managers who have been linked with a move to Tottenham. He claims to have held talks with Levy already and, with his contract to coach the Netherlands expiring after the World Cup, has made it clear he is keen on a move to the Premier League.

But Redknapp warned it may not be the opportunity the Dutchman has said he hopes for. "It's not really working for Tottenham," he said. "Levy enjoys buying the players and I think that's the problem. He's an owner and a fantastic shrewd businessman but when it comes to knowing footballers, I don't think that's really his game.

"They were doing brilliantly a couple of years ago and now you look at clubs like Everton who are going past them quickly and that isn't Tim Sherwood's fault, that isn't Villas-Boas' fault; that's because of the players they are bringing in who aren't quite good enough to play for Tottenham.

"You can bring in anyone to work with that group of players and they would struggle to get the top four."

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