Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp

Redknapp before a preseason match against Brighton in July 2011
Personal information
Full name	Henry James Redknapp
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	West Ham United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1965–1972	West Ham United	149	(7)
1972–1976	Bournemouth	101	(5)
1976	Brentford	1	(0)
1976–1979	Seattle Sounders	24	(0)
1982	Bournemouth	1	(0)
Total		276	(12)
International career
1964	England Youth
Managerial career
1983–1992	Bournemouth
1994–2001	West Ham United
2002–2004	Portsmouth
2004–2005	Southampton
2005–2008	Portsmouth
2008–2012	Tottenham Hotspur
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Henry James "Harry" Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He was the manager of Tottenham Hotspur until he was dismissed in June 2012.

He previously managed Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth (twice) and Southampton. While in his second spell at Portsmouth, he managed the side that won the 2008 FA Cup. At the conclusion of the 2009–10 season he guided Tottenham into the UEFA Champions League for the very first time. Redknapp subsequently oversaw Spurs' progress to the last 16 of that tournament when defeating German side Werder Bremen at home. They were the only new club to have qualified for the next stage of the competition and went on to top their group ahead of holders Inter Milan, before defeating AC Milan over two legs to reach the quarter-finals.

His son, Jamie Redknapp, played under him at Bournemouth and Southampton. He is also uncle to Chelsea player Frank Lampard, who played under him at West Ham United.

Personal life

Redknapp was born in Poplar, London, the only child of Henry Joseph William Redknapp (1922–1996) and Violet May Brown (1924–2001).

At the age of 11, while playing for East London Schools football he was spotted by Dickie Walker, a Tottenham Hotspur scout. From there Harry grew up in the Tottenham youth ranks playing at Cheshunt, meeting the likes of Bill Nicholson, Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower. At the age of 15 Redknapp moved to West Ham and played alongside Bobby Moore. In a 2008 interview he stated as part of a tribute to Tom Finney: "I was a big Arsenal fan as a kid and I remember seeing him play against Tommy Docherty one night".

However, after being appointed Tottenham manager later that year he stressed his Tottenham connections as well, stating:

"I am a big follower of the history of the game and Tottenham have been a great club over the years. I followed Tottenham, I trained there as an 11-year-old, 12-year-old so I know the history of the club. It is a big, big club."

He is married to Sandra and they have two sons Jamie Redknapp, a now-retired footballer, and Mark, who is a model. Jamie made his professional debut under his father at AFC Bournemouth in 1990 before moving on to Liverpool and later Tottenham Hotspur and finally Southampton before retiring in 2005. His nephew is Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard Junior whose parents are Sandra's late twin sister, Patricia, and Harry's former teammate and managerial assistant Frank Lampard Senior.

He and his wife Sandra are currently the fundraising presidents for the Southampton based charity Leukaemia Busters, a role that they took over in 2004 previously held by former cricketer David Gower and his wife Thorunn.

Redknapp and his wife also own a property development company, Pierfront Developments. In August 2011, it was announced that a housing development their company is building in Southsea, Hampshire, will go ahead without affordable housing. The £600,000 they offered to the council to build affordable homes elsewhere, was accepted by the council. Opponents of the scheme estimated that this will only be enough to build eight homes, instead of the 28 that council policy says they should be building in this development.

In January 2011, he was mugged while attending a football game in Spain. On 2 November 2011, he had an operation to unblock coronary arteries. In June 2012, it was announced that Redknapp was joining the online gambling company, Betfair, as its ‘Euro 2012 columnist’. This involves previewing games for the tournament and providing betting tips for Betfair customers.

Playing career

West Ham United

During his playing career Redknapp played as a midfielder, he began his career with Tottenham playing for the youth team until he was 15 years old when he moved to West Ham United. Redknapp first broke into the first team at West Ham in the 1965–66 seasons, making seven appearances and scoring one goal. He made his debut for West Ham in a 1–1 draw at home to Sunderland on 23 August 1965. His first goal came in a 4–1 away win over Tottenham Hotspur on 8 April 1966.

Redknapp made his first start of the 1966–67 season, and scored his second goal for the club, on 3 December 1966 in a 3–0 win over West Bromwich Albion. Redknapp made 12 League appearances scoring once during his second season. During the 1967–68 season Redknapp made 28 League appearances scoring on two occasions, the first in a 4–2 home win over Burnley on 21 August 1967 and the second in a 5–1 away win over Sunderland on 6 September 1967.

During the 1968–69 season Redknapp made 42 appearances scoring three times with 36 appearances coming in the league with two goals, he made three FA Cup appearances with a further three in the League Cup scoring once. His first league goal of the season came in a 4–0 win over West Bromwich Albion on 31 August 1968 and then in the next game a league cup tie against Bolton Wanderers which West Ham won 4–0. Redknapp received a red card in a 2–0 away defeat at Leeds United on 12 October 1968. His third goal of the season came in a 4–3 win over QPR on 2 November 1968.

Redknapp made his first appearance of the 1969–70 season on 9 August 1969 in a 1–0 home win over Newcastle United, his first goal of the season came in a 3–0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday on 2 September 1969. Redknapp made 26 appearances scoring once in all competitions with 23 of them coming in the league.

During the 1970–71 season Redknapp made 21 league appearances with one more coming in the League Cup. He then made a further 35 appearances during the 1971–72 season with 22 of them coming in the league, this would turn out to be his last season at the club before he moved to Bournemouth for the 1972–73 season after making a total of 175 appearances in league and cup for West Ham scoring eight times over seven season with the club.

Bournemouth

Redknapp joined Division 3 Bournemouth in 1972 from West Ham United. Redknapp spent four seasons with the south coast side between 1972 and 1976.

In the 1972–73 season Redknapp made 37 appearances with 34 of them coming in the league scoring once in the league and Bournemouth finished seventh in the league. He made a further 46 appearances scoring five times during the 1973–74 season with 39 appearances in the league.

Redknapp made 19 (all league) appearances during the 1974–75 season as Bournemouth were relegated to the Fourth Division and he only managed nine appearances for the following 1975–76 season. At the end of the 1975–76 season Redknapp moved to then Fourth Division side Brentford where he made one appearance during the 1976–77 season.

Seattle Sounders

In 1976 Redknapp joined North American Soccer League side Seattle Sounders as a player coach. He made 15 appearances during the 1976 season as they reached the playoffs after finishing 2nd in the Pacific Conference, Western Division before losing to Minnesota Kicks in the Division Championship. Before returning to Seattle, he appeared briefly for AP Leamington in the Southern League Premier Division He then made five appearances during the 1977 season as they finished third in the Pacific Conference, Western Division before losing out in Soccer Bowl '77 to Pelé's New York Cosmos 2–1.

Redknapp went on to make three appearances in the 1978 season and just the one in the 1979 season, before joining up with old team mate and 1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore.

International career

Redknapp has also represented his country England at international level having been capped by the team at youth level what is now England Under-19 side when he was 17. He was in the side that won the 1964 UEFA Youth Tournament which England won 4–0 by beating Spain in the final.

Management and coaching career

Seattle Sounders and Oxford City

Redknapp began his management career with a spell as player-assistant manager of North American Soccer League side Seattle Sounders from 1976 to 1979. During his time with Seattle, Redknapp made 24 appearances, helping the side to second place in the Pacific Conference, Western Division in his first season as player coach and then to 3rd place in the Pacific Conference, Western Division for the 1977 season, taking them to the final of the Soccer Bowl before losing to Pelé's New York Cosmos. During the 1978 season Redknapp helped them to a third place finish in the National Conference, Western Division before Seattle lost in the first round of the playoffs, again to New York Cosmos. In his final year in Seattle he helped them to another third place finish in the National Conference, Western Division but this time they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Redknapp then had a spell assisting his former West Ham team-mate Bobby Moore at Isthmian League club Oxford City.

Bournemouth

At the beginning of the 1982–83 season Redknapp took up his first major coaching role as assistant manager to David Webb at Bournemouth, six years after leaving the club as a player. Redknapp applied for the manager's job when Webb moved to Torquay United part way through that season, but was overlooked in favour of Don Megson. Megson did not last long in the position and was sacked in late 1983 with the Cherries in trouble near the foot of the Third Division and Redknapp was handed the manager's position.

In his first season at the helm, Redknapp helped Bournemouth escape the drop to the bottom rung of the Football League. Bournemouth also caused a shock in the FA Cup when they beat holders Manchester United 2–0 in the third round. After a couple of seasons of consolidation in mid-table, everything clicked in the 1986–87 season. Bournemouth won the Third Division title in style, gaining a club record 97 points as they held off the challenge of Middlesbrough.

He was linked with the West Ham United manager's job in the 1989 close season following the dismissal of John Lyall, but the job went to Lou Macari instead and Redknapp would remain at Dean Court for another three seasons.

After two years at this level, Bournemouth were relegated at the end of their third season. Bournemouth were in 13th position on 3 March, but injuries, which depleted the squad, combined with a catastrophic loss of form, meant that they won only one more game for the rest of that season, and were relegated on 5 May after a 1–0 defeat at Dean Court against Leeds United.

In June 1990, while in Italy to watch the World Cup, Redknapp was involved in a road accident along with Michael Sinclair, the chairman of York City, Fred Whitehouse, the chairman of Aston Villa and Bournemouth's managing director Brian Tiler, who died along with four other people. Travelling through Latina, south of Rome, their minibus was in collision with a car containing several Italian soldiers. Their vehicle was flipped onto its roof and skidded fifty yards along the road. Redknapp was doused in petrol and pulled clear of the accident by Sinclair. Redknapp suffered a fractured skull, a broken nose, cracked ribs and a gash in his left leg. Ambulance services arriving at the scene believed him dead and placed a blanket over his head. Unconscious for two days Redknapp was flown home two weeks later in a special air ambulance paid for by AFC Bournemouth. Though he made a full recovery (apart from losing his sense of smell and gaining a facial tic), he eventually quit Bournemouth at the end of the 1991–92 season.

West Ham United

For the next season he was appointed assistant manager to Billy Bonds at West Ham United, another of his former clubs. However, in August 1994, the board decided to turn control of the team over to Redknapp and move Bonds into an administrative role. In the end, Bonds resigned completely from the club, leaving Redknapp in sole charge.

Just months before being promoted to the manager's seat at Upton Park, he was linked with the managerial vacancy at Southampton after the departure of previous manager Ian Branfoot, but the job went to Alan Ball instead.

Redknapp helped to establish the club in the Premier League and introduced a number of young players from the club's academy, including Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and his nephew Frank Lampard coming through the ranks. The signings of Stuart Pearce, Paolo Di Canio and Trevor Sinclair helped them reestablish their careers having been signed by Redknapp. He also made mistakes in the transfer market particularly with overseas players, the signings of Marco Boogers, Florin Raducioiu and Paulo Futre proving to be notable failures.

Nevertheless, West Ham finished eighth in 1998, and then enjoyed their second best ever top flight finish of fifth place and qualification for the Intertoto Cup. In the 1999–2000 season West Ham won the Intertoto Cup and qualified for the UEFA Cup but failed to match their performances in the league, which could be put down to the extra games played. Redknapp left West Ham on 9 May 2001, one game before the end of the 2000–01 season. For some time it was unconfirmed whether he resigned or was sacked but Redknapp shed new light on the true circumstances in October 2007:

"The chairman Terry Brown had offered me a new four-year contract. What I did was talk to a fanzine, made some comments, and sometimes I should be a bit more careful. I sat down with these guys from the fanzine and they started asking me questions and I spoke to them in the way I’d talk to someone in a pub. I said a few things I shouldn’t have said. He read it and got very upset. I walked into his office expecting to sign the contract and walked out without a job!"

— Harry Redknapp,

Portsmouth

Redknapp soon re-emerged as Director of Football at Portsmouth in summer 2001, and when the Leicester City manager's job became vacant with the dismissal of Peter Taylor that autumn, Redknapp was widely tipped to take over at the East Midlands club, but stayed loyal to Pompey and the Leicester job went to Dave Bassett. Ironically, it was reported in the national media that had Redknapp taken over, Bassett would have been on his coaching staff at the East Midlands club.

However, after the club's poor form he replaced manager Graham Rix in March 2002. Redknapp managed the club to the Division One title in the 2002–03 season, gaining promotion to the Premier League, replacing his former club West Ham.

Redknapp kept Portsmouth in the Premier League in the 2003–04 season, but had a dispute with Portsmouth's owner Milan Mandarić over his assistant Jim Smith. Redknapp had another disagreement with Mandaric over the appointment of Velimir Zajec as Director of Football and resigned as Portsmouth's manager in November 2004.

Southampton

A few weeks after his departure at Portsmouth, Redknapp became manager of Southampton, a move which infuriated Portsmouth's supporters as the two clubs are fierce local rivals. Some fans even bore T-shirts which referred to Redknapp as "Scummer" and "Judas" and called for him to "Rot In Hell".

Redknapp was tasked with keeping Southampton in the Premier League – a similar task to the one Redknapp was facing with Portsmouth, and a familiar one at the club over the previous 15 years, which he would have faced had he accepted the offer to take over a decade earlier – but ultimately was unable to achieve this, ending Southampton's 27 year spell in the top flight. Redknapp remained in charge for the 2005–06 Championship season but was unable to establish consistency needed to make Southampton promotion contenders. Redknapp was also unhappy with chairman Rupert Lowe's appointment of Sir Clive Woodward to the club's coaching staff. After being repeatedly linked with a return to Portsmouth after they sacked Alain Perrin, Redknapp resigned as Southampton's manager in early December 2005. Lowe quoted Redknapp as referring to Portsmouth as his "spiritual home".

Return to Portsmouth

Redknapp returned to Portsmouth on 7 December 2005 with the club threatened by relegation to the Championship, although not in the relegation zone. At first it looked like Redknapp would be heading for a second successive relegation, but a fine run of form at the end of the season, aided by the takeover of Portsmouth by Alexandre Gaydamak (which provided Redknapp with more money), ensured Portsmouth's survival. In the following season, Redknapp led Portsmouth to a ninth placed finish which was the club's highest league finish since the 1950s. In October 2007, Redknapp signed a new contract at Portsmouth lasting until 2011.

In January 2008 it emerged through the media that Redknapp was offered the vacant manager's job at Newcastle United following the sacking of Sam Allardyce. Redknapp had apparently declined the job, stating "I have a job to do to take this club forward and to walk away would not have been the right thing to do." It was later stated by Newcastle chairman Christopher Mort that Redknapp "was interviewed for the job but he was only one of a number of people we were speaking to at that time", and at the time of Redknapp's interview the club had already been in secret talks with the eventual appointee, Kevin Keegan, for a week.

On 8 March, he led Portsmouth to an FA Cup quarter final victory over Manchester United, completing a hat-trick of FA Cup wins over Manchester United, and followed this with a semi-final victory over West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium on 5 April. He guided the club to their first FA Cup Final in 69 years, where they beat Cardiff City, on 17 May 2008, to win The FA Cup 1–0, thanks to a goal scored by Nwankwo Kanu.

Redknapp returned to Portsmouth to receive the Freedom of the City in a ceremony on 28 October 2008. As this event took place two days after his departure for Tottenham, he received a mixed reception from the Portsmouth fans, despite having led the club to a long-awaited trophy in the 2008 FA Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur

Redknapp interviewed by daughter-in-law Louise Redknapp during Soccer Aid 2008.

In October 2008, following the sacking of Juande Ramos by Tottenham Hotspur, the club announced that Redknapp had agreed to take over as the new manager at Spurs. Tottenham paid £5 million in compensation to Portsmouth for letting Redknapp go. Spurs had secured only two points from the first eight games of the season prior to Redknapp's arrival and lay bottom of the league, but in his first two weeks in charge he took the club out of the relegation zone, winning ten out of the twelve points available with wins against Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool and Manchester City and a remarkable 4–4 draw against North London rivals Arsenal. In January 2009, Redknapp signed five new players in order to add quality and much-needed depth to his squad. He brought back Jermain Defoe from his old club Portsmouth for £15.75 million and Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios from Wigan Athletic for £12 million. Long-serving Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini also joined on a free transfer, former Spurs player Pascal Chimbonda returned to White Hart Lane from Sunderland for a fee in the region of £3 million and Robbie Keane, who like Chimbonda and Defoe had only left Spurs within the last year, re-joined after an unsuccessful spell at Liverpool for an initial fee of £12 million.

In the second half of the season, Spurs gradually moved up the league table after a significant improvement in form. In March 2009, Redknapp led Spurs to the League Cup final, which they lost on penalties to Manchester United. Spurs eventually finished in eighth position with 51 points, narrowly missing out on a Europa League place.

Redknapp during pre-season training at Brighton (2011)

Redknapp made significant alterations to the squad in the summer of 2009. Striker Darren Bent was sold to Sunderland for an initial fee of £10 million, while midfielder Didier Zokora departed for Sevilla for £7.75 million. In came England striker Peter Crouch and Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjčar from Portsmouth for £9 million and £2 million respectively along with defender Sébastien Bassong from Newcastle United for £8 million.

In 2009–10, his first full campaign with the club, Redknapp guided Spurs to their most successful Premier League season to date. Beginning with four consecutive wins, Spurs went on to finish in fourth place with 70 points, thus gaining the chance to qualify for the Champions League by means of a play-off. As a result of his efforts he won the Premier League Manager of the Year award, only the second manager to do so in a season when his side did not win the title.

On 13 July 2010, it was confirmed that Spurs had extended Redknapp's contract until the end of the 2013 season.

On 25 August 2010, Spurs confirmed their position in the Champions League group stages by overturning a first-leg deficit to defeat Swiss team Young Boys at White Hart Lane in the Champions League play-off. After a surprising run to the quarter-finals, they were knocked out in April 2011, after a 5–0 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid. Spurs ended the 2010–11 Premier League in fifth position with 62 points. Although not enough to secure a second year of Champions League football, this finish instead meant that Redknapp's Spurs qualified for the Europa League.

In the 2011–12 season, Redknapp signed 40-year old goalkeeper Brad Friedel, after his contract expired with Aston Villa. He also made a season-long loan move for Manchester City striker, Emmanuel Adebayor. On transfer deadline day, he signed English midfielder Scott Parker for an undisclosed fee from West Ham United. Redknapp then went on to win the Manager of the Month award for September and November.

Despite leading Tottenham to their second fourth-placed finish in three years, missing out on Champions League qualification due to Chelsea winning the competition, Redknapp was sacked by Tottenham on 13 June 2012, after reportedly failing to agree terms on a new contract.

Return to Bournemouth

On 7 September 2012, Redknapp took up a new advisory role at AFC Bournemouth, where he began his managerial career.

On October 3rd Harry Redknapp was confirmed as the new maanger for AFC Bournemouth, Replacing the recently sacked Paul Groves. Some AFC Bournemouth fan's welcome the appointment where as others wait for Redknapp to ruin another football club with bad finacial management.

Corruption allegations and arrest

Main article: 2006 English football corruption investigation

On 19 September 2006, Redknapp was shown on camera by BBC Panorama taking part in what appeared to be an interest in approaching a player illegally. Redknapp denied that his conversation about then-Blackburn Rovers player Andy Todd with the football agent Peter Harrison amounted to "tapping up" or illegally approaching the player. Redknapp referred to Todd as a "tough bastard" during the conversation and suggested that he would be interested in signing the player on a full-time basis if he was available. Redknapp told the BBC that he has never taken a bung and had given Kevin Bond no reason to think otherwise and that he considers himself to be "One million percent innocent".

In the final report of the Stevens inquiry published in June 2007, the only criticism of Redknapp concerned his ownership of a racehorse named "Double Fantasy" thought to have been given to him by the agent Willie McKay, which has aroused some suspicion. Redknapp told the inquiry that it was possible that he did own the horse but insisted that he had not made any money out of it because the horse was a failure and never won a race.

On 28 November 2007, Redknapp, along with Portsmouth's managing director Peter Storrie, former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić, agent Willie McKay and footballer Amdy Faye had been arrested by City of London Police on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. Redknapp was later released without charge, and announced his intention to take the police to court over his arrest, considering it as the reason for the failure of the FA to consider him for manager of England after the sacking of Steve McClaren. The High Court ruled in May 2008 that the raid by City of London Police officers, on Redknapp's home in Poole, was illegal and quashed the search warrants, calling their actions "wholly unacceptable"[1] and ordering them to pay £1,000 damages to Redknapp as well as part of his legal costs.

Following further investigation by HM Revenue & Customs as part of the corruption enquiry, in January 2010, Redknapp was charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue, along with Milan Mandarić. The charge related to a US$295,000 payment from Mandarić to Redknapp via a bank account in Monaco. The trial began at Southwark Crown Court on 23 January 2012. He was found not guilty on both counts on 8 February.

England manager's job

Redknapp's acquittal came just hours before the resignation of England coach Fabio Capello, leading to almost immediate calls across the football community for Redknapp to be installed as Capello's successor. Two days later, he refused to rule himself out of the running for the job, but said that it would be very difficult to combine the role with his current position as Tottenham manager. A few weeks later the FA appointed Roy Hodgson as manager without approaching Redknapp.

Honours and achievements

As a manager

Bournemouth

• Football League Division Three: 1986–87
• Football League Trophy: 1984

West Ham United

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999

Portsmouth

• Football League Division One: 2002–03
• FA Cup: 2007–08

Tottenham Hotspur

• Football League Cup finalists: 2009

Individual

• Premier League Manager of the Year: 2009–10
• Premier League Manager of the Month (7): April 2004, October 2004, March 2005, April 2006, August 2009, September 2011, November 2011

Statistics

Player

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
West Ham United	1965–66	7	1	0	0	0	0	7	1
	1966–67	12	1	0	0	0	0	12	1
	1967–68	28	2	0	0	3	0	31	2
	1968–69	36	2	3	0	3	1	42	3
	1969–70	23	1	1	0	2	0	26	1
	1970–71	21	0	0	0	1	0	22	0
	1971–72	22	0	4	0	9	0	35	0
	Total	149	7	8	0	18	1	175	8
Bournemouth	1972–73	34	1	1	0	2	0	37	1
	1973–74	39	4	3	0	4	1	46	5
	1974–75	19	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
	1975–76	9	0	2	0	1	0	12	0
	Total	101	5	6	0	7	1	114	6
Brentford	1976–77	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Total	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Seattle Sounders	1976	15	0	–		–		15	0
	1977	5	0	–		–		5	0
	1978	3	0	–		–		3	0
	1979	1	0	–		–		1	0
	Total	24	0	–		–		24	0
Bournemouth	1982–83	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
	Total	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
Career total		276	12	14	0	26	2	316	14

Manager

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Bournemouth	19 October 1983	9 June 1992	457	180	107	170	039.39
West Ham United	10 August 1994	9 May 2001	327	121	85	121	037.00
Portsmouth	25 March 2002	24 November 2004	116	54	26	36	046.55
Southampton	8 December 2004	2 December 2005	49	13	21	15	026.53
Portsmouth	7 December 2005	26 October 2008	128	54	29	45	042.19
Tottenham Hotspur	26 October 2008	13 June 2012	198	98	50	50	049.49
Total				520	318	437	040.82

As of 13 June 2012

According to Portsmouth, the official records have missed some of Redknapp's games as manager, and the match on 13 January 2007 against Sheffield United was not his 1000th, but his 1003rd.[2] [3]

External links

• Harry Redknapp management career statistics at Soccerbase
• West Ham playing career statistics
• Harry Hotspur – Harry Redknapp