ekotto

Benoit's latest column in the Evening Standard...

Get well, Harry, we wish you a full and speedy recovery

There are many good football managers but very few exceptional ones. Harry Redknapp is one of those exceptional managers.

After what has happened this week, I think it is important that we wish the gaffer a full and quick recovery.

When I heard he was in hospital to have minor surgery on his heart, I was really surprised.

Harry's style is very relaxed, so sometimes you can forget the stress he has to deal with but that is probably because he hides it so well.

He is very laid-back in the way that he works with us, which is why I think he is a cool man.

It is true that I don't always understand him when he speaks because it can be too fast sometimes, especially at half-time when we're not playing particularly well!

Thankfully, of late those times have been few and far between and so it is really easy to forget that this work could be bad for his heart.

Harry won't be with us for our match at Fulham on Sunday, as I believe his doctors have advised him to rest up.

But I know he hopes to be back at work in time for our next game, which comes against Aston Villa on November 21, after the international break.

Of course, we all hope that Harry is back on the Spurs training ground with us soon.

Ask any player in any team what is the key to success at a club and if his ego allows him to, he should say it is the boss rather than himself.

I have worked with the managers of both Fulham and Tottenham. Martin Jol was in charge of Spurs when I joined the club in the summer of 2006, so it will be really interesting to come up against him again on Sunday.

Every manager has a slightly different style and every player, obviously, has a slightly different idea of how they would like their manager to act.

For my part, I would say Harry's style is very relaxed. He makes it clear to you that he thinks you're good enough to take care of yourself on the pitch and places a lot of responsibility on you to do the job.

This works for me really well as I like having the freedom to work things out for myself.

Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan, rather than Harry, will be in the dug-out at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

It is up to us players to support them and to keep our recent high standards.

It would be great to make it seven wins out of eight in the Premier League before we pause for the international break.

I am away in Morocco with the Cameroon national team next week with our new head coach, Denis Lavagne.

It has been a disappointing time for football in my country in the recent past.

We didn't play well at the World Cup and then we failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations, which happens in January and February next year.

I realise that many European clubs will be happy they don't have to lose Cameroon players for two months of this season and I understand why.

However, I hope that Cameroon can soon have a team again to make our people happy.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-24006...

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