Why Harry Houdini really needs to deliver at Spurs this season

Football FanCast columnist Alec Fenn reveals why guiding Spurs to success could be Harry Redknapp's toughest task to date.

He's the wheeler dealer, the Del Boy of the Premier League,throw him a bottle and more often than not he'll find you a genie.

But for Harry Redknapp the impending campaign will providehis biggest managerial test to date.

Throughout his career, Redknapp has worked on a pauper'sbudget forced to scrimp and save, unearth footballing gems from the farthestreaches of the globe and scrub up the oldest, roughest of diamonds.

Yet the challenge at White Hart Lane is a different animalto anything Redknapp has faced before. He now has a transfer budget the envy of the vast majority of Europeanfootball and at his disposal a squad littered with top class talent, Modric,Defoe, Woodgate, alongside exciting youngsters, Lennon, Huddlestone, Bassongand the unpredictable enigmas of Bentley and Dos Santos.

With such a selection of talent available and resources tostrengthen, comes the added pressure to succeed and fast, a top-six finish arealistic expectation.

Of course Redknapp is accustomed to pressure, saving Portsmouthfrom relegation and reaching the UEFA Cup just a season later are achievementsof considerable measure.  Yet theexpectations at Fratton Park were limited and anything other than mid-tablemediocrity deemed a success.

However the pressure of winning game after game on aconsistent basis is far greater as messrs Martin Jol and Juande Ramos found totheir peril, coupled with the obstacles of rotating four strikers in JermainDefoe, Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavluychenko not to mention firmingup the soft centre that has been Spurs Achilles heel for so long.

Tricky too has been attracting the calibre of footballercapable of propelling Tottenham into the stratosphere of the upper echelon ofEnglish football.  Targets such as WesleySneijder, Klaas-Jan-Huntelaar and Arjen Robben command not only top wages butthe stability and professionalism that only the very best of clubs provide,something Redknapp is keen to establish at White Hart Lane.

But this will be easier said than done, with the trigger-happyDaniel Levy lurking around every corner, Redknapp will be well aware that agood start and instant results are of upmost importance.  He will need luck, hoping that theinjury-prone Jonathan Woodgate and the terminally-injured Ledley King remain fitenough to assist Michael Dawson and newcomer Sebastian Bassong.  He will pray that he can find a partnershipwithin his expensively-assembled strike force to fire the goals and hope thathis side can find a previously non-existent resilience to find results whenthey are least expected.

So all is set, the glistening snooker-table surface, astadium packed to the rafters and a team with all the talent to propelTottenham to new heights.  Will Redknappbe the man to guide his side to a new dawn or merely the latest pushedoverboard by Daniel Levy and his henchmen?