Profile of Harry Redknapp on Famous Like Me

Harry Redknapp (born March 2, 1947) is a former English footballer and the current manager of Southampton F.C.

Player career

Redknapp's playing career began at his local club, 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 1976.

Manager/Coach career

At the beginning of the 1982/83 season Redknapp took up his first major coaching role as Assistant Manager to Don Megson at Bournemouth, 6 years after leaving the club as a player.

Bournemouth

Megson was sacked in 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 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 road smash which killed five people, including Bournemouth general manager Brian Tiler, and left him with serious 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 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. In the end they decided to part company with Redknapp, and his assistant Frank Lampard senior, days before the end of the 2000/01 season.

Portsmouth

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 First Division 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, following various disagreements with chairman Milan Mandaric, on 23rd November 2004 he resigned with immediate effect.

Southampton

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, who immediately branded him as a Judas, along with somewhat more vulgar terms. 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, overlooking a talented youth squad in favour of a series of hit and miss signings. During the sides 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, saw the team relegated to The Championship, dropping out of top flight football for the first time since 1978. Redknapp has previously never been at the helm of a relegated team, but has vowed to stay on at the Southern club and conclude his footballing career on a high.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Harry Redknapp