- May 5, 2005
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Not anything especially controversial or anything we didn't already know. Some interesting comments on AVB and coaching though:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...heart-surgery-England-job-tax-court-case.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...heart-surgery-England-job-tax-court-case.html
What a year! Harry Redknapp's first interview since leaving Spurs, on heart surgery, THAT court case, the England saga and leaving a club he loved
By Matt Lawton
PUBLISHED:23:00, 14 September 2012| UPDATED:23:00, 14 September 2012
Harry Redknapp has had a sleepless night and it might have something to do with his choice of hotel room. ‘It’s the same room I had the night before the verdict of the court case,’ he says cheerily. ‘Yeah, I know. I probably shouldn’t stay here. But the manager’s very good to me. I can park my car.’
He is not selling it terribly well. It still sounds slightly masochistic to keep returning to the scene of the darkest night of his life.
But Redknapp is in surprisingly good form given the year, never mind the night, he has had. It was not just the 13 torturous days he spent at Southwark Crown Court. Not just the failure to get one job — the job — only to then lose the one he already had. No, before that, before any of it, he had to have emergency heart surgery.
Speaking up: Harry Redknapp has been interviewed for the first time since leaving Tottenham
As he reflects for the first time in an interview on his annus horribilis, over tea at the swanky London hotel that became his home for two weeks in February, he suggests there might have been a link between the court case and the heart problems. The trial was delayed because of the illness and he now believes it could have been the stress, beyond the daily demands of being Tottenham’s manager, that made him so unwell.
‘It could have caused it,’ he says. ‘The case was with me 24 hours a day. I was working and then going home at night and not sleeping, just worrying. I am a worrier. People think I’m all calm but underneath I’m not. I just didn’t show it to the players. I never took that worry to work. But there was a pent-up emotion. I remember one game when we scored and I jumped 10 feet in the air. I was thinking, “that’s not me, why did I do that?”. But it was obviously bottled up inside me.
Calmed down: Redknapp enjoying life after a stressful year
‘Things were actually going well at Tottenham but the moment I was away from the football it was with me again, in my mind. Management is stressful enough but for that period of my life I guess it was like a double whammy.’
It was a double whammy that hit him hard last November. ‘I’d never experienced anything like it,’ he says. ‘I went to play golf with Jamie and we’re walking towards the first green and suddenly I can’t breathe. Jamie’s saying, “Are you alright Dad? Do you want me to carry your bag?”. And I said, “No, I’m not. I can’t breathe properly”. I was all tight across the chest. So I went to see the doc and they had me in that night. Heart surgery. It’s amazing how it happens.’
Support: Jamie Redknapp (left) has helped his dad through tough times
Listening to the evidence at his tax-evasion trial every day, it was amazing he ever ended up in a courtroom. The sums of money, given the people involved, were so small, the case for the prosecution so fragile.
But after 13 days of legal wrestling it still came down to 12 members of the public to decide if Redknapp was returning to that hotel to get his car and drive home or being led away to a prison cell.
The night before the verdict was, he says, horrendous. ‘We went out for dinner. It was John Kelsey-Fry, my barrister, an amazing man, and Jamie and a couple of friends. They knew I was in a bit of a mess. It was a rough night. I didn’t sleep. It was a nightmare to be honest.
‘Everything was going through my head the night before. It was scary really. Your life is in the hands of 12 people you don’t know and that is an uncomfortable situation. Especially when you feel you shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Cleared: Redknapp was found not guilty on all fronts
‘That was the biggest thing in my life in the last year. I had to make sure I came out of that because my whole life was on the line. Over nothing, but it was.’
No wonder he hasn’t slept. ‘Whenever I come here I don’t sleep,’ he says. ‘I have the same night I had the night before the verdict. But the manager’s a lovely man.’
After his acquittal he did indeed drive home. ‘I didn’t celebrate that night,’ he says. ‘They had something ready for me here but I only wanted to get home to Sandra, so I just drove home on my own.
‘I didn’t let Sandra come to court because I didn’t want to put her through that. It was hard enough being there in the first place but if she had been sitting there every day, too, that would have killed me and her. Jamie was there for me instead. There were tears when I walked through the door, from both of us to be honest. It was a difficult time.’
It was an insane time and an insane few hours on that evening of February 8. No sooner had he returned to his car than he was being hailed as the next manager of England in the wake of Fabio Capello’s sudden, if not entirely unsurprising, departure from the Football Association.
Destiny? ‘It did look that way,’ he says. ‘People talk to you in football and everyone was saying it was my job. Not necessarily at the FA but other people involved, in positions in football, were telling me that.
Overlooked: Roy Hodgson was appointed as England manager
‘But when I look back I think it was always going to be a problem for me. I mean, I have to be careful what I say here, but I had a contract that was very heavily loaded; that anyone who wanted to take me, we’re talking massive money in compensation. It was always going to be a problem.
‘The FA would say that it wasn’t the reason and it wouldn’t be fair on Roy Hodgson to say I would have had the job had it not been for that. But I always felt, from day one, that it might rule me out. That it might be a problem.’
The FA have always insisted Hodgson was their first choice and the fact that they did not speak to Redknapp – he confirms as much – would suggest that was the case.
But because the compensation figure was north of £10million, because he saw only obstacles rather than a clear path to a new Wembley office, Redknapp never got too excited about the prospect of becoming England manager. On the contrary, he started to worry about what he would do if he was offered the opportunity to succeed Capello.
For the first time, Redknapp admits he had serious reservations about becoming the manager of England. ‘I was enjoying my life at Tottenham and I did wonder how I would cope, if it happened, with what is part-time football,’ he says. ‘I do enjoy seeing footballers every day; being on the training ground.
‘I had great players to work with. Bale, Modric, Scott Parker. Fantastic lads. I enjoyed going to Old Trafford, I enjoyed going to Liverpool, to the Emirates. All these amazing places. And I thought I would miss that.
‘That was something that kept bothering me. Was it something I really wanted to do? I know what the job brings in the end. Nothing but hassle. We all know that. It’s part of the job. If you don’t get slaughtered you’re going to be the luckiest man in the world. Even Bobby Robson got slaughtered. And I knew that. I thought, “Do I need that?”
‘I was driving when I heard on the radio that Roy had got the job. It happened out of the blue. But I didn’t lose any sleep over it that night. I was almost quite relieved in a way — that I hadn’t been given a decision to make. The decision had been taken away from me.’
He wishes Hodgson well and he does sound genuine. ‘I like Roy,’ he says. ‘He’s a great guy and I’m sure he’ll be a very good England manager.
Glory days: Redknapp won the FA Cup while in charge of Portsmouth
‘It was nice that people wanted me to do the job, but it didn’t happen and that’s that. I rang Roy and wished him well. I rang him after the first game at the Euros and said well done, too. He’s a lovely guy and I was pleased for him.
‘Look, I don’t live my life feeling bitter about anything. I’ve been so lucky. I’ve had such a great life. I’ve got a fantastic family. I’ve been married for 44 years — I’ve got the most fantastic marriage. You see people with real problems. I’ve been lucky.’
He insists he is not bitter about his dismissal from Tottenham either, even if he does not seem to have much time for the man who has succeeded him. There is no direct criticism of Andre Villas-Boas, but his view of a certain breed of modern, intellectual football manager is not terribly complimentary.
‘These days you’re getting 70-page dossiers on this and that,’ he says. ‘Bulls**t can baffle brains at times.’
Careful words: Redknapp did not directly criticise his successor Andre Villas-Boas
When it comes to Tottenham, he does have to tread carefully. Certain stipulations were made when he agreed to his severance package and any kind of contract breach could prove expensive. Even so, this is not a man bursting to say something he is not allowed to for legal reasons.
He would argue against the accusation that he became distracted by the England situation; that his team suffered as a consequence; that the club’s failure to secure Champions League football led to his departure.
‘We were just unlucky,’ he says. ‘After the court case I thought we continued to play well but a few results didn’t quite go our way. Even then we still finished fourth, but who saw Chelsea finishing sixth yet winning the Champions League? I lived and breathed my job at Tottenham. I didn’t think, “Who’s bothered? I’m going to manage England”. Not a chance. I was totally focused. My life was trying to finish third. I badly wanted to finish above Arsenal.
Unbelievable: Chelsea's Champions League win was not foreseeable
‘But go back a few years and Tottenham weren’t getting within 30 points of Arsenal. Now there’s nothing between the teams. In fact, I think Tottenham have a better squad than Arsenal. I’m sure they will do well again this season.
‘No, looking back I don’t think finishing fourth decided it. I think the club just wanted to make a change. It was their decision. It was Daniel Levy’s decision to do what he did and he can do what he wants. It’s his club.’
Not that Redknapp saw it coming. ‘It was a bolt out of the blue,’ he says. ‘I didn’t think I’d be in trouble if we finished fourth. It was a Champions League position. But I have walked away knowing I did a good job. I know the football we played was fantastic and I know the Tottenham fans had a great time while I was the manager. If you’re going to go it’s a nice way to go.’
Fantastic football: Redknapp was sure he left White Hart Lane having entertained the fans
Right now he is working in an advisory role for Bournemouth, the first club he managed. ‘I’m not getting paid for it,’ he says. ‘The chairman Eddie Mitchell came to see me. Manager Paul Groves worked for me at Portsmouth and so did assistant Shaun Brooks. They asked me to come down to the training ground some time. Good lads.
‘Then Eddie called and said he’d pay me to become part of it. I said I don’t want paying. I don’t want to commit myself. But I will go to training occasionally and I’ll go to the games. I had a great day out last weekend. I really enjoyed it.’
He loves it and at 65 — he calls himself a young 65 — he is working for free so that he can accept the first job offer that appeals to him. ‘You never know what’s going to happen in football,’ he says. ‘It was a shock that I went and there will be more shocks.
Back to the start: Bournemouth were the first club Redknapp (left) managed
‘I wouldn’t just take any job. I’ve no need to. I don’t want to go and work for a chairman who is a nightmare. But I do love football and I know everything that’s happening in football. So does Alex Ferguson. You talk to Fergie. I’ll sit with him and talk about Rochdale, or Fleetwood. When I started at Bournemouth, I knew every player in non-League.’
He will stick to his old-school methods and values. ‘Coaching is one thing, management is another,’ he says. ‘Fergie’s a manager. Arsene Wenger is a manager. There are managers and coaches and I actually think I’m in between. I love coaching. I’m not blowing my own trumpet but I haven’t seen many coaches who are better than me.
‘At the end of the day the game is about good players, though. It’s about getting the best out of them. Putting them in the right positions. Understanding the game. It’s about moving Luka Modric from the left wing to central midfield. It’s about understanding the game and I understand the game. There are people who try to make the game sound complicated for their own good. They are such geniuses, some of these boys. But it’s a simple game really. You don’t need PowerPoint.
Coaching: Redknapp helped Luka Modric to become the player he is today
‘I remember going to Fulham, when I was manager of Bournemouth and Liverpool were playing an FA Cup game. I was with my chief scout Stuart Morgan when Joe Fagan comes and sits in front of us. It was about five minutes into the game and we were thinking “This will be interesting”. But then some old boy shouts over to Joe. It’s some old mate of his. They were in the army together. And they sat talking for 40 minutes.
‘At half-time Joe disappears downstairs. Liverpool are winning 2-0. And Stuart says: “What’s he going to say to his players? He hasn’t been watching.”
‘I said: “What does he need to say? He’s got Graeme Souness, Dalglish, Hansen...’
Would Redknapp take the England job if it became available again? ‘No,’ he says. ‘I’m 65. It’s gone now. By the time it comes up again it will be too late for me. I wouldn’t be interested.’
Presumably he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, either.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2203307/Harry-Redknapp-First-interview-leaving-Tottenham-heart-surgery-England-job-tax-court-case.html#ixzz26UThRrCj
