Redknapp: I've got nothing to prove

Harry Redknapp last night insisted he has no need to demonstrate his managerial credentials - and backed Spurs’ Champions League novices to upset the European apple-cart.

Redknapp’s status as the front-runner to succeed England boss Fabio Capello will be strengthened hugely if he can guide Tottenham into the latter stages of the biggest club competition of all.

But with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy conceding his manager will be the prime contender for the England job, Redknapp maintained his reputation is already in place.

Redknapp said: “I don’t go through my life thinking I have got to prove anything to anybody.

“I have proved I can do what I can do by getting them into fourth place from where we were. Whatever I do at Tottenham, my record has not been too shabby. I don’t ever think I have got anything to prove.

“Maybe this is a different stage but it’s not something I sit and think about. You want to do well but every competition you’re in you want to do well. This is THE competition in club football and we want to do well. I want to put a team out that can do the job.

“In two years time I could be manager of Poole Town - who knows? You don’t know in football. I don’t look two years ahead.”

Levy, though, is aware that Redknapp will be the fans’ choice to replace Capello in 2012 and the Spurs chairman said: “I’m sure Harry is one of a number of managers the FA will look at. It’s two years away and I’m not going to worry about what might happen. We will have to deal with it if and when it does.”

What happens tonight is an immediate bigger concern for Levy and Redknapp.

Nearly 50 years after their last taste of the European Cup proper, Redknapp’s men walk out at the Weserstadion to drink Champions League nectar.

Like every Spurs manager, Redknapp knows he will always be judged against the achievements of Bill Nicholson’s side, semi-finalists in the club’s only previous foray into the biggest tournament of all and insisted this is where courage and nerve really matter.

Redknapp said: “For Tottenham to be here is the biggest surprise. It’s good for the club after so many years to finally get there - 50 years is a long time.

“It would be very difficult to emulate what that Double-winning team did and certainly what Bill Nicholson did. I wouldn’t put myself anywhere near Bill Nicholson.

“I know the supporters are suddenly getting big expectations but they must have bad memories about where we have been for the last 50 years. I must be missing a trick somewhere.

“It is different if you are Manchester United or someone, they would have expectations. They have been there and won championships. But we haven’t been there at all. The people realise where we have come from two years ago to where we are now.”

Being Tottenham, of course, they did it the hard way, trailing 3-0 inside half an hour in Berne last month before eventually justifying all the hard work that claimed a top four finish, confirming Redknapp will be more cautious in the Weserstadion.

“The key for me, to be honest, was getting this far,” said Redknapp. “My dread was going out in the qualifier.

“Now we are going to have to be tactically aware. I went at Young Boys because the reports came back that they were there to be beaten, that they weren’t a good side. So I thought ‘we can have a go at these, we’ll murder these’. And after half an hour we were in that state. We won’t commit suicide like that this time.”

Redknapp was not the only Spurs man with his heart in his throat in Switzerland. Levy admitted: “When we were 3-0 down in Berne I felt sick but I was calm.

“Now we should all be proud. We deserve to be in the Champions League. We all want to stay there but we all have to be realistic.

“There are only four places in England and there are seven or eight clubs competing and two clubs you could say are guaranteed to be in that top four, so that’s two places for six clubs. What we won’t do is jeopardise the club to challenge to be one of those two.”

Redknapp’s plans for the game have been transformed by the injuries that deprive him of Heurelho Gomes, Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe this evening, while Luka Modric limped on and off the flight from Stansted and will not be risked and William Gallas is also unlikely to start.

Holders Inter Milan and Twente Enschede complete Group A but Redknapp maintained: “Inter are favourites but there’s no guarantee they’ll finish top. We want to finish top if we can.

“The players have got to prove it. It’s what they do when they get on that pitch. That’s what it’s all about.

“Before we played in Berne I told the players they had to seize the opportunity in case it doesn’t come again, and you saw what happened.

“You can give them all the messages you want, it’s what they do when they go out there. We’ve got to go out and perform. All the messages I give them are great and I can set them up. But they’ve got to go out there and do it.”