Spurs staff and players not finding manager's absence too taxing

HARRY REDKNAPP is enduring the strain of a crown-court trial but, as he seeks to co-ordinate Tottenham’s recovery from their recent wobble remotely, he has offered the impression of laid-back normality.

The manager has spoken to his assistant Kevin Bond before and after each day of his tax case, with much of the discussion related to the team selection for tonight’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Watford.

Redknapp has been informed that Younes Kaboul did not train on Wednesday while Gareth Bale and Scott Parker withdrew from the session and, with muscle twinges the problem, it is likely he will omit all three from his line-up.

Redknapp will travel to Watford after day five of his trial to give the pre-match team talk and take his place in the dugout.

If there is the sense that the 90 minutes and the return to his natural environment will represent a tonic, then the club have endeavoured to make light of his absence from the training ground, even if Bond did concede that Redknapp was “the pivotal person on a day-to-day basis at the club and you need that person around”.

Tottenham found themselves in a similar situation last November, when Redknapp underwent a procedure for the insertion of two stents into an artery in his heart and was off work for almost three weeks. The staff and squad are using that absence, when Redknapp was also forbidden to attend matches, as a template for the present situation.

Redknapp’s role in training tends to be as an overseer, with Bond and the other first-team coaches, Joe Jordan and Clive Allen, taking the sessions.

“Harry wasn’t here a few weeks back and really, we are just carrying on without him,” Bond said. “To a large degree, the training is exactly the same; it’s just that Harry is not there overseeing it.

“We haven’t felt we had to have a conversation with the players. Everyone is aware of the ongoing situation and gets on with it.”

Meanwhile, Adrian Mariappa will line up for Watford despite the speculation regarding his future. The centre-back was the subject of a failed bid from Newcastle United at the start of this week.

Ten-goal striker Marvin Sordell, who has also been linked with a January move, will lead the line for Watford, who have a full-strength squad to select from barring long-term absentees Martin Taylor and Stephen McGinn.