Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp

Personal information
Full name	Henry James Redknapp
Position(s)	Manager
Team information
Current team	Portsmouth

Henry "Harry" Redknapp (born March 2 1947) is an English former footballer who has had a long career in football management and is the current manager of Portsmouth F.C. of the English Premiership.

Harry Redknapp was born in Poplar, London and supported Arsenal as a boy, his father taking him to Highbury from a young age.

His son, Jamie Redknapp played under him at A.F.C. Bournemouth.

He is also uncle to Chelsea player Frank Lampard.

Player career

Redknapp's playing career began at West Ham United. After coming through the youth ranks as a winger at Upton Park, he signed professional terms as a 17-year-old in 1964 and went on to make 149 top flight appearances, scoring 8 goals.

In 1972, he transferred to Bournemouth, where he spent four years, playing 101 games. He then moved back to London when he was bought by Brentford in 1976, and played for the club until his retirement in 1979.

Management and coaching career

At the beginning of the 1982-83 season Redknapp took up his first major coaching role as assistant manager to David Webb at AFC Bournemouth, six years after leaving the club as a player. Redknapp applied for the manager's job when Webb moved to Torquay partway through the 1983-84 season, but was overlooked in favour of Don Megson.

AFC Bournemouth

Megson didn't last long in the position and was sacked in late 1984 with the Cherries in trouble near the foot of the Third Division, and Redknapp was handed the manager's position.

Initially, Redknapp's brief was to avoid the drop into the bottom rung of The Football League. This he achieved by a comfortable margin, but the FA Cup would provide a superb distraction to their League troubles.

Bournemouth were drawn at home to holders Manchester United in the Third Round of the competition, and they pulled off perhaps their greatest ever result in knocking out the mighty Red Devils.

Redknapp looked to build on a good start to life in the hot seat. He paid close attention to the youth system, insisting that adequate plans were put in place in order to bring talent through into the first team, and talented youngsters such as his son Jamie Redknapp soon forced their way into the squad.

The Cherries became one of the best sides in the lower divisions, playing attractive football, as Redknapp wheeled and dealt in the transfer market to lure in bargain stars.

After a couple of seasons of consolidation in mid-table, everything clicked in the 1986-87 season. Bournemouth stormed to the Third Division title in style, clocking up a club record 97 points as they held off the challenge of Middlesbrough.

Redknapp failed to mount a bid for promotion into the top flight, with two seasons spent as an average Second Division side, and dropped back down a division in 1990.

But tragedy struck in the summer of 1990 when Redknapp travelled to Italy to take in the World Cup. He was involved in a major car crash which killed five people, including the AFC Bournemouth managing director Brian Tiler, but made a full recovery from major injuries.

Redknapp continued at the south coast club but announced his resignation at the end of the 1991-92 campaign. He had become disillusioned with the lack of funds and limited resources at his disposal.

West Ham United

For the next season he was appointed assistant manager to Billy Bonds at West Ham, another of his former clubs. However, when in August 1994, Bonds left after a major disagreement with the board, Redknapp was appointed manager of his hometown club.

After three seasons of stabilising the side, enjoying mid-table finishes, the fruits of Harry's labour could be seen. However, it wasn't long before Redknapp, was beginning to come under some pressure from the fans for his failure to create a top-half side, but the board would be repaid for their faith.

As at Bournemouth, Redknapp was determined to get the youth system right and yet again he pulled it off with players of the calibre of Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and his nephew Frank Lampard coming through the ranks.

The Hammers finished eighth in 1998 and then enjoyed one of the best seasons in their history when finishing in fifth place and qualifying for the Intertoto Cup.

The 1999/2000 season was not as successful but that could well have been put down to their involvement in Europe, winning the Intertoto Cup and thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup. This meant their season began a month early, which led to tiredness and only one point from the final 12 available.

That same season West Ham lost arguably their best defender when Ferdinand was signed by Leeds United for a record fee of £18million. Although some of the cash would go back to Harry for squad strengthening, he fell out with the board over what he felt was a lack of ambition. He left on 9 May 2001, with mystery surrounding his departure - did he resign or was he sacked?

Portsmouth (2001-2004)

Redknapp soon re-emerged as Director of Football at Portsmouth. He struggled to get to grips with the role, although did show his loyalty by turning down the chance to take over at Leicester City in October 2001.

Rumours that Redknapp would become Pompey's manager were finally proved correct on March 25, 2002, when he replaced Graham Rix. The former Chelsea coach had been forced to deal with constant speculation, and it always appeared only a matter of time before he left.

Backed by the millions of chairman Milan Mandaric, Redknapp moulded a squad of youth and experience for an assault on the First Division - veterans Paul Merson and Steve Stone were joined by former Hammers Svetoslav Todorov and Hayden Foxe. Jim Smith was also drafted in as his assistant.

Pompey were excellent from the very beginning, and earned promotion into the Premiership for the first ever time, ironically replacing West Ham, by lifting the Division One title ahead of Leicester City. Redknapp was also named the League Managers' Association's Manager of the Year.

Although there was talk of Mandaric leaving the club, he continued to pump in the money. Fans were given hope of staying in the top flight as Redknapp bolstered the squad close season with the signing of players like Boris Zivkovic, Dejan Stefanovic and Teddy Sheringham.

Despite enduring a series of long term injuries to vital first team players, Redknapp worked wonders in 2003-04.

Pompey topped the table for a short spell at the start of the season, following a 4-0 thrashing of Bolton Wanderers and victory over Aston Villa.

But they then won only one game in the next two-and-a-half months before dishing out another humbling, 6-1, to Leeds United.

Steve Stone, Tim Sherwood, Patrik Berger, Svetoslav Todorov and Vincent Pericard were among those who spent lengthy time on the treatment table. But Harry Redknapp brought in good reinforcements in the January transfer window - Eyal Berkovic, Ivica Mornar, Petri Pasanen and Lomana Tresor LuaLua.

Pompey finished the season with a real flourish, losing one in ten with six victories, as Yakubu bagged 11 goals.

Despite apparent arguments over transfers and coaching positions with chairman Mandaric, Redknapp strengthened his squad over the summer of 2004, and restated his commitment to make Pompey an established Premiership side. However come 23 November 2004, following further disagreements with Mandaric, particularly over the appointment of Velimir Zajec as Director of Football, Redknapp & Jim Smith resigned with immediate effect.

Southampton (2004 - 2005)

Despite claiming that he was leaving Fratton Park to take a break from the game, Redknapp was appointed first team manager of Pompey's bitter rivals Southampton on December 8. Not surprisingly, the appointment infuriated Portsmouth supporters, some of whom immediately branded him as a Judas. The nature of his departure remains controversial, and disparaging comments from each side about the other have continued, stoking the fire of an already-bitter rivalry.

Inheriting a team in disarray after the sacking of managers Paul Sturrock and then Steve Wigley, Harry was unable to save the club in the half-season he had in charge. During the side's last few weeks in the Premiership, Portsmouth took revenge on Redknapp by beating the side 4-1. Southampton's 1-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United on the final day of the season saw the team relegated to the Championship, dropping out of top flight football for the first time since 1978. Redknapp had never previously been relegated from the top division, but vowed to stay on at the Southern club and conclude his footballing career on a high.

However, the first few months at the newly-relegated side were characterised by poor results including a long run of draws. On 3 December 2005 it was announced that he had left his position at the club. His departure followed mounting speculation that he was on the verge of rejoining Portsmouth. Redknapp felt that his position had been made untenable due to the nature of the rivalry between the two clubs although, as at Portsmouth, it was vigorously speculated that Redknapp was displeased at the interference of one of the chairman's appointments, the man in question being former England Rugby Union Coach Sir Clive Woodward. Following Redknapp's departure, Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe announced that there would be an official investigation into Portsmouth's handling of the situation.

Return to Portsmouth (Since 2005)

Redknapp returned to Portsmouth on 7 December 2005, following the departure of Frenchman Alain Perrin. Club chairman Milan Mandaric professed himself delighted with his return. There was some criticism in the media for the Redknapp-Portsmouth-Southampton affair, with some claiming it was damaging the image of the game.

The departure of Velimir Zajec (apparently due to ill health), whose appointment as director of football contributed to the tensions between Mandaric and Redknapp in 2004, was cited as one of the factors behind Redknapp's decision to return to Portsmouth, with Sir Clive Woodward's similar role at Southampton having caused much media speculation about Redknapp's position at the club.

The arrival as joint Chairman of Portsmouth F.C. of Alexandre Gaydamak on 2 January 2006 immediately raised doubts as to whether Redknapp would continue in his role as manager. Gaydamak, however, has since dismissed this speculation, saying that his sole interest was to ensure the club's survival in the top-flight. The club spent much of the 2005-06 season in the relegation zone and Redknapp's chances of keeping them up seemed slim, but they finished the season very strongly to retain their place in the Premiership. Having been 8 points adrift with less than two months of the season to go, this "great escape" (coupled with a similar one when at West Ham) led to Redknapp being dubbed "Harry Houdini" by the media. Some observers have pointed out that Portsmouth were (temporarily) outside the relegation zone at the time of Redknapp's reappointment, but it is unarguable that Portsmouth had picked up just 10 points from 15 games before Redknapp rejoined, without a single home win. In contrast, his rebuilt team took 23 points from the first 13 games of the 2006-07 season.

Redknapp signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth on 25 May 2006. His previous contract with the club officially ended on the last day of the 2005-06 season.

On March 17 Harry Redknapp promised the Portsmouth F.C. fans a 'massive' spending spree in the summer of 2007 to boost their hopes of European football. Some of his targets are: Sulley Muntari, Jonathan Woodgate, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Nugent, Younes Kaboul and Greg Halford.

Corruption allegations

Main article: 2006 allegations of corruption in English football

On September 19 2006 Redknapp was shown on camera by BBC Panorama taking part in what appeared to be an interest in approaching a player illegally. Redknapp denies his conversation about Blackburn Rovers player Andy Todd with the soccer 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". .[1]

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Bournemouth		October 19 1983	June 9 1992	457	180	170	107	39.39
West Ham United		August 10 1994	May 9 2001	327	121	121	85	37.00
Portsmouth		March 25 2002	November 24 2004	116	54	36	26	46.55
Southampton		December 8 2004	December 2 2005	49	13	15	21	26.53
Portsmouth		December 7 2005	Present	57	22	23	12	38.59
TOTAL				1006	390	365	251	38.76

As of 2 March 2007

According to Portsmouth F.C., 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 1030th.[2] [3]

External links

• Harry Redknapp management career statistics at Soccerbase