Curse of England strikes Redknapp

Sitting in the England manager’s dugout and giving his team talk from the England dressing room, Harry Redknapp watched Tottenham’s season slide out of view; and he must have been wondering if the football gods were laughing at him.

It is hard to put together a convincing argument to suggest Spurs’ recent collapse — spectacularly demonstrated by their capitulation against Chelsea at Wembley last night — is completely unrelated to the events of February 8, when Fabio Capello resigned and Redknapp was immediately installed as favourite to replace him.

At that stage, Tottenham’s vibrant team were comfortably third in the league and heading for the season of their lives; but yesterday’s pulsating FA Cup semi-final was their fifth defeat in 13 games since that day — they have also drawn four of those matches — a period in which they have even allowed Arsenal to move above them in the Premier League.