Harry Redknapp might have been making a better fist than Kevin Keegan of
hauling Newcastle United out of the mire and he could conceivably have been
reviving England more quickly than Fabio Capello. Instead, the old boy takes
Portsmouth to Wembley next Saturday as favourites not only to overcome West
Bromwich Albion in the semi-finals, but to go on and win the FA Cup.
At 61, after passing up the chance of an Indian summer at Newcastle and having
been overlooked by England, “Happy Harry” is resigned to finishing his
managerial career on the south coast, where the definitive Eastender has
made his home. In the 45 years since he joined West Ham, Redknapp has never
been to Wembley, old or new, other than to watch somebody else’s team.
Pompey have not played there since 1939, when the world’s eyes were on more
serious matters. Both are keen to make up for lost time.
Redknapp loves a bet, and he knows better than most that the smart money is on
Portsmouth seeing off West Brom and going on to beat the winners of the
other, all-Championship semi-final between Cardiff and Barnsley. Pompey are
also capable of hanging in there to finish in the top six in the Premier
League, which would make it an annus mirabilis for the doyen of
wheeler-dealers.
Catching up with the character who put a “u” in Poplar is always worthwhile,
and so it was in midweek, when some of the distractions were as entertaining
as the interview’s raison d’etre. Our start was delayed
by a telephone call breaking the news that some shares Redknapp had been
advised to buy had gone through the floor.
“Why bother, Harry? You don’t need the money.”
“Yeah, but you know I love a punt.”
He is still as enthusiastic and wrapped up in football as he was when he first
ventured into management at Bournemouth in 1983, and throughout our
conversation in his cupboard of an office, at the inadequate training ground
that Portsmouth share with a grammar school’s hockey players, Sky Sports
News stayed on the TV, muted, so that he could keep abreast of the game’s
minutiae.
When one of those bottom-of-the-screen info bars revealed that Rio Ferdinand
was to captain England in Paris, the Redknapp gob was well and truly
smacked. “Bloody hell, look at that, Rio’s skipper!” he exclaimed. Was
Ferdinand’s erstwhile mentor really so surprised? Shooting an
eyebrows-raised look that can only be described as dubious, he followed the
story and added knowingly: “Ah, it’s not permanent, it’s only for this one
game.”
England was a topic that we would come on to later. Of more pressing interest
was Portsmouth’s progress towards what would be their best season since
Fratton Park’s finest won the First Division when it was still the top tier,
back in 1950. “Trying to get to the cup final is the key to our season, and
it has been a bit of a distraction in the league,” Redknapp said. “The FA
Cup is enormous to a club like this, and winning it would be a fantastic
achievement. Don’t forget, for the past 12 years it has been won by one of
the big four [clubs].”
The last time Portsmouth were this close was in 1992, when they reached the
semi-finals under Jim Smith, who was later to become Redknapp’s assistant.
“They played Liverpool in the last four and were unbelievably unlucky to go
out on penalties,” Redknapp recalled. “I went to the replay at Villa Park,
and how they didn’t beat Liverpool, I’ll never know. They were the better
team.
“The club haven’t had a cup run since then, but they’ve had enough on their
plate in the league. When we played at Tottenham last week they had a piece
in the programme showing Portsmouth’s record over the past 10 years. I
didn’t realise how poor they’d been. For five seasons running, starting from
1997-98, they finished 20th, 19th, 18th, 20th and 17th - and that wasn’t in
the Premier League, it was in what they call the Championship now.”
The grim sequence ended with Redknapp’s appointment in March 2002. Fourteen
months later, Pompey were promoted as champions, and the only time they have
been in trouble since was when their guiding light decamped briefly to
Southampton, of all places, and the unlamented Velimir Zajec and Alain
Perrin nearly took them back down. Hastily reappointed, Redknapp showed he
possessed the escapologist’s, as well as the market trader’s art, dragging a
desperately poor team out of the relegation grave they had dug for
themselves by prising 20 points from the final 10 games.
Fast-forward to the present, and he still has hopes of finishing fifth in the
league – “You’ve got to fancy Everton, but we’ve got the easier run-in” –
which would guarantee a place in next season’s Uefa Cup, even if Wembley was
to end in tears. West Brom is not a “gimme”, Redknapp insists. “We found it
difficult against Championship sides in the earlier rounds.
When we played Preston I had reports on them and my people told me, ‘Harry,
they ain’t bad, but you’ll do them easily’. Then we went up there and ‘Jamo’
[David James] had to save a penalty before we won it with an own-goal in the
last minute. We had the same with Plymouth at home – they gave us real
trouble before we ended up winning 2-1 – and Ipswich in the third round was
touch-and-go.
“West Brom are the best team in that division. They’ve got the best squad by
miles, and they’re a good footballing side. I’m not just saying that because
we’re playing them, I genuinely believe they would have survived in the
Premier League this season.
“They’ve got some good players. [Kevin] Phillips has always scored goals, and
[Jonathan] Greening and [Zoltan] Gera have done it at top level. Paul
Robinson does a good job at left-back, and they’ve bought a very useful
winger, Chris Brunt, from Sheffield Wednesday for £3m. [James] Morrison,
from Middlesbrough, cost them another £1.5m, and it’s a big, strong squad.
Maybe, though, they’ve got their eyes on promotion, more than the cup.
Getting back in the Premier League must be the most important thing to them.”
Portsmouth are sure to miss Jermain Defoe, who has rediscovered his scoring
from since his move from Tottenham. Cup-tied after playing for Spurs in the
earlier rounds, the livewire striker is “gutted” about missing two
high-profile matches in the space of 11 days, and my greeting, “Hello, top
man,” brought the disgruntled response: “If I was top man, I’d be in Paris
with England.” Redknapp was surprised that he wasn’t. “Jermain has been on
top form, and I thought he was sure to be involved against France.”
Without him for Wembley, the manager’s choice is between Kanu, Milan Baros and
David Nugent. He said: “Kanu is not as mobile as he was, but he can hold the
ball up. He has days when he’s brilliant. Mind you, he has plenty of others
as well. Baros is quicker and gives us the run-through option, and Nugent is
fit again and will certainly be involved.”
Portsmouth are favourites, but Redknapp’s record counsels caution. “I’ve done
nothing in the cup, really,” he confessed. “The quarter-finals is my best up
to now, as manager or player. As West Ham manager we got beaten 3-2 at home
by Tottenham [in March 2001] and in my playing days West Ham always used to
get knocked out early. I remember getting beaten 3-0 at Mansfield one year
[1969] with Moore, Hurst, Peters, Brooking and Bonds in the side.”
Would winning the old pot be his most satisfying achievement? “Well,” he said,
pondering the question, “taking Pompey up and establishing them as a force
in the Premier League has given me a lot of pride, but the cup would be
fantastic. After all, what else is there for a club like ours to win?
“Look at David Moyes at Everton. He’s done a great job there, but what has he
won? It’s very difficult for managers like us to win something when you
realise that the top four have monopolised not just the league but the FA
Cup as well. In my case, I seem to get drawn like a magnet to Manchester
United. I’ve come up against them eight times in the cup [beating them with
Bournemouth, West Ham and now Portsmouth]. Hard or what?”
He acknowledges that the chances of getting his hands on some silverware are
fast running out. “This is my club, it’s whereI see myself staying until I
retire now, so to win the FA Cup is my remaining ambition.”
How close was he to accepting Newcastle’s offer? “I’d be a liar if I said I
didn’t come close. Friends told me, ‘It’s a great opportunity, probably your
last chance to manage a big club. If you don’t try, you’ll never know what
you might have achieved’. And I suppose that’s true.
“I spoke to them, but in the end I thought, ‘You’ve built a good team who are
playing good football, you’ve brought these players here and the people in
charge are good to you’. I like to think that I’m a loyal person. I know I
left here and went to Southampton, but that was because I was pushed into a
corner [over the appointment of a technical director he didn’t want] and had
no option but to go.
“Remember, I had almost 10 years at Bournemouth and nearly the same at West
Ham. I’m not a person who flits from one club to another. If I’m happy, I
just get on with it.”
It was suggested that he wasn’t up for the challenge. “I don’t think anyone
could accuse me of lacking bottle,” he responded. “I went from Portsmouth to
Southampton and back again. That’s not bottle, it’s madness. No, it wasn’t
that. I’m happy here, and that counts for a lot.”
To his annoyance, it has been reported that he sought and received more money
to stay. “That was bollocks,” he said. “I’d signed a new contract here two
months beforehand, and I stayed on the same deal.” The one-eyed monster in
the corner intruded again. “Bloody hell, there’s some good films coming up,
look.” Sky were trailing a gangster season, featuring Scarface, Goodfellas
and the Godfather trilogy.
“I’m going to watch all of them,” Redknapp said. “I love all that mafia stuff,
don’t you?” Steady on, Harry, you’ll have the Old Bill on the doorstep
again. Four months ago, when he was away scouting in Germany, the police
raided the family home in the middle of the night as part of an
investigation into transfer irregularities. Redknapp has always maintained
that he had no knowledge of alleged payments made to Amdy Faye, and he has
heard nothing since. The timing of the incident was unfortunate, to say the
least. The England job was vacant and a bandwagon was rolling in Redknapp’s
favour.
“I never thought I was close, but public support was building for me,” he
said. “The night it happened [the police raid] I was at the
Stuttgart-Rangers match, and Walter Smith said to me, ‘You’ve a great
chance, Harry, with all the favourable publicity you’re getting. A lot of
people seem to want you’. The following morning – bosh. It
was like someone said, ‘Hang on, he’s getting a bit too popular, we’d better
hit him on the head witha bloody great sledgehammer’.”
Fabio Capello was appointed two weeks later, leaving Redknapp to wonder for
the rest of his life what might have been. “It was a great time to get the
job,” he said, “maybe the best time ever because I still think we’ve got a
terrific squad of players, and it wasn’t going to be hard work to make a
success of it. We’re at an all-time low, and it’s like going into a club
that’s rock bottom. If it’s a good club, the only way is up, and that’s how
it is with England. I’d love to have done it, and I’d have been confident of
doing a good job, without a doubt.
“The players are definitely there. I know because I’ve managed half of them:
Frank Lampard, Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson, Defoe,
David James, Peter Crouch – there’s eight straight off. They’re all lads
I’ve got on well with and I like to think they have respect for me.”
They have, and England’s loss, as well as Newcastle’s, is Portsmouth’s gain.
Play up, Pompey.
It’s been a long time but they’ve finally made it to Wembley
-Portsmouth’s last visit to Wembley was in 1942 when they lost to Brentford in
the Wartime Cup fi nal. Before that they had won the FA Cup in 1939 and had
been runners-up in 1929 and 1934
-Their last appearance in the FA Cup semifi nals was in 1992 when they lost to
eventual winners Liverpool on penalties after a replay. Portsmouth’s side
that year included future England international Darren Anderton
-West Brom’s last visit to Wembley was in May 2007 when they lost the
Coca-Cola Championship playoff fi nal to Derby
-Their last win at Wembley was in 1993 when they reached the playoff fi nals of
what was then Division Two. They beat Port Vale 3-0 to achieve promotion
-The Baggies last made it to the FA Cup semifi nals in 1982. They also reached
the same stage in 1978, when they lost to Ipswich n
-The club has won the FA Cup five times, the last time in 1968 by beating
Everton in extra-time with a goal from Jeff Astle
-That win came in the middle of a golden era for the Baggies when they won the
League Cup in 1966 and were runners-up in 1967 and 1970. They also reached
the FA Cup semifinal and Cup Winners’ Cup quarterfi nal in 1969
-In 2005, the two sides met on the last day of the Premiership season. West
Brom’s 2-0 home win that day, combined with results going in their favour
elsewhere, ensured they stayed up
-If West Brom win next Saturday, it will be the first time in the competition’s
history that there has been no top flight team in the final
WIN TICKETS We’ve teamed up with E.ON, sponsors of the FA Cup, to offer
you the chance to win a pair of tickets to watch one of next weekend’s semifi
nals. For your chance to win, email your answer to the following question to
sportlettters@sunday-times.co.uk, along with your home address and phone
number, stating which game you would prefer to see: in what year were both
FA Cup semifi nals last played at Wembley? Answers must be received by noon,
Tuesday, April 1. E.ON will also be laying on coaches to take fans to the
games. To fi nd out how to get a seat on one of these and more on
energy-saving, go to www.carbonfootyprint.com
TV match West Brom v Portsmouth
Saturday, BBC1, midday, kick-off 12.15pm
