Under Juande Ramos, Spurs took two points from their first eight league games and were anchored to the bottom of the table. Enter the man universally known as 'Appy 'Arry and a haul of seven points from three games has lifted them above Bolton and Newcastle. Another win could take them out of the relegation places.

Redknapp's ability, reputation and personality lie behind the transformation. Not for nothing did the Football Association consider him before appointing Fabio Capello as England's head coach. Players respect him, after his achievements with West Ham and Portsmouth, and like him for the avuncular, arm-round-the-shoulder encouragement that is fundamental to his method. Unlike his unlamented predecessor at Spurs, communication is his strong suit. The players want to play for him and the positive way in which they are responding to his management has been evident since the astounding comeback that saw them score twice after the 89th minute to draw 4-4 with Arsenal at their Emirates fastness.

Yesterday's win against a team that arrived in north London as league leaders was no less impressive, especially after Spurs had fallen behind in the third minute. Deflated by Dirk Kuyt's goal, they were second best and needed reorganising, as well as lifting, during the interval. Redknapp did both, talking up his players' morale and winning the tactical battle against Rafael Benitez by changing from 4-4-1-1 to 4-4-2.

His explanation of what happened showed both sides of his character — the funny man beloved of football folk everywhere and the canny coach. He said: "In the first half we couldn't play through them because they fill up the midfield so well that the only ball we had was back to our centre-halves. So for the second half I changed it. We put on an extra striker and went more direct, cutting out the midfield. I said at half-time, 'I want you to kick it long because I'm going to put two big strikers up there'."

What had he told Pavlyuchenko? "Not a lot because he speaks through an interpreter. He asked if there was anything special I wanted him to translate and I said, 'Not really, just tell him to f****** run about'."

On a more cerebral level, Redknapp said he was concentrating every day on "getting into their heads, becoming part of them and on encouraging them". He explained: "Everything in life is about confidence and it's better to tell people what they can do well, rather than what they can't do. My message at half-time was, 'Look, we're 1-0 down, but you can't tell me that we haven't got the ability to score'."

Levy, who has gone through seven managers in seven years as chairman, at last appears to have found the right one. He sacked Georege Graham after two months and has been quick on the trigger ever since, hiring and firing Glenn Hoddle, Jacques Santini, Martin Jol and Juande Ramos. David Pleat was also dismissed after eight months as caretaker in 2003-04.

Rarely does the money man raise his head above the parapet and when he did so last Thursday he took some painful hits. If he had hoped that Redknapp's cavalry-over-the-hill arrival and the club's announcement of plans for a new stadium would dilute criticism, he was quickly disabused by reminders of where the buck should stop, suggestions of double standards in Dimitar Berbatov's transfer to Manchester United and accusations of muddled thinking over the long flirtation with a continental-style managerial set-up, featuring a sporting director in charge of transfers.

Levy got into a fearful muddle at times, notably in defining success for Tottenham as qualification for European competition (the last two managers accomplished that and were promptly sacked), by stating that Martin Jol had been "unrealistic" when he advocated the sale of Berbatov only 10 days before the transfer deadline last year (Levy sanctioned the Bulgarian's departure 12 months later, the day before the window closed) and by stating Spurs' constant aim was to recruit good, young English players (they have just signed Luka Modric, Heurelho Gomes, Giovani, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka at a total cost of £51m).

Did the chairman's own future depend on Redknapp's success? "Not at all," he said. "I'm a fighter, I don't give up. If we were satisfied just to be a mid-table club, I'm sure we wouldn't have gone through so many managerial changes."

Not only managers came and went. After sacking Graham, Levy embraced the continental chain of command. Now, after seven years, he had reverted to the traditional British "boss", Redknapp, who will have sole responsibility for transfers. Was this Levy admitting he had implemented the wrong structure? "You are trying to hang it on the failure of the structure, and I don't see it that way. The failure of the individuals involved was why we had to make the change."

Renewing hostilities with Berbatov, Levy accused him of having a "detrimental impact" on the dressing room before his £30m transfer to Old Trafford. Signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £10.9m in July 2006, he agitated for a move throughout the summer. "I don't think he treated the club with the respect it deserved."

Explaining that one reason Redknapp had been appointed was the universal respect he commands, Levy added: "In modern-day football the players have all the power. If they decide, as a group, that they want to stop performing and get someone sacked, that's what happens."

It is unlikely to happen to Redknapp. "I'll do it my way," he told me. "Nobody will be telling me who to sign, I think I've proved over the years that I can do my own deals." Changing the squad will have to wait. For the time being, he is content with giving a happy face to a London club, replacing foreign coaches with English ones.

Levy said: "It's still fairly early days. Based on the quality of the squad, I'm very confident we'll be climbing that table. If Harry had been here from the beginning and we'd been performing as we did in his first two matches, we'd be in a very different position today."