The Old and the Young

Harry Redknapp is a very unique manager,

as he is possibly the only manager of a 'big' team in England who prefers

to buy old players rather than young players.

Look at Wenger, Dalglish, Ferguson and AVB - all of them have recently bought young star players and put them straight into the first team.

Arsenal bought Szczesny, Chamberlain, Mertesacker and Gervinho.

Liverpool bought Carroll, Henderson and Downing.

Chelsea bought Torres, Mata and Luiz

United bought De Gea, Jones and Young

But during all of this, Harry bought Friedel, Parker, Saha and Nelsen

(and got Adebayor on loan)

Besides for a few exceptions in the bunch above (Mata and Chamberlain), all of those young players have played far below what was expected of them. The problem is that you can't buy someone with maybe 2 0r 3 years experience and make them the star player of the team.

It takes time for players to adapt to their clubs (and the tactics) and to feel confident when all the pressure is piled on them.

If you look at the players Harry bought, all of them have played far better than anyone expected them to (except Nelsen who hasn't had much game time yet) - and the best thing about it all, is that we got those 5 players for less than what Carroll cost Liverpool.

Also, if you look at Liverpool, one of their best players this season has been Craig Bellamy - who they got on a free transfer.

So maybe it's better to buy old players and replace them every few seasons, than to buy young who may or may not become good sometime in the future.

So why take this risk of guessing a player's ability, when you can just buy a player like Parker, Adebayor, Friedel or Saha who have already proven themselves as great footballers.

Well at least Harry understands this - and hopefully the other clubs will continue wasting money on the De Gea's and Torres's of the world,

while we grab all the 'golden oldies'.

Carry on doing what you do best Harry.