I have to be honest and up front from the beginning. I never wanted Redknapp as manager and I can’t pretend otherwise.
However, that doesn’t stop me being astounded by this move. To sack a manager so soon after spending a fortune backing him in the transfer window seems bizarre – even if we had lost six times on the bounce.
Ican’t ever thank him enough for saving us there but it’s time to move on.It wasn’t a rush decision and it wasn’t an easy one at all pic.twitter.com/6Vh5km7l4t
— Dong Ren (@XuandongRen) September 17, 2017
Three days after telling us via twitter “We have to believe in each other when we fail,” Ren Xuandong tells us it’s time to move on from Harry Redknapp.
That it wasn’t a rushed decision and that it wasn’t an easy decision.
I have to say here and now, I don’t believe Ren.
I’d heard on the grapevine that there were “VIPs from Hong Kong” watching the game yesterday – with the implication that they were either the people who owned the club or connected to them.
I don’t know what their motivation for going to the game was – but evidence points to the fact that within two hours of the final whistle Redknapp had been given his P45.
Did they go to the game with an idea in mind to give Redknapp the sack or did they just decide there and then to do it?
Another concern is that Ren’s football advisor Darren Dein was in the board meeting too giving his input into the decision.
Dein has no official position within the club.
If anything the feeling I get from the club is that they don’t like it being known he is working for the club or that is he is on £25k per month basic retainer.
Yet Dein evidently holds sway.
I knew Dein had been deeply involved with transfers into the club in the window. What this shows however is that he has a deeper involvement than that.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a situation that is similar to Jorge Mendes at Wolverhampton Wanderers – with the attendant question as to what Dein’s motivation is.
I also have to admit, the question of who is to be the next permanent manager of Birmingham City is a little bit of a scary one right now.
Are we going to see the club go for another “name”?
Is the next manager also going to have to allow Darren Dein to be so involved in the club?
Is the next manager going to be given any time or will he be fired too if Blues don’t immediately start winning games?
The only thing I can say with any certainty right now is that we’re in for another instalment of the rollercoaster ride that is Birmingham City.