Ray Parlour

Personal information
Full name	Raymond Parlour
Date of birth	(1973-03-07) 7 March 1973 (age 39)
Place of birth	Barking, London, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
1989–1992	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–2004	Arsenal	339	(22)
2004–2007	Middlesbrough	46	(0)
2007	Hull City	15	(0)
Total		400	(22)
National team
1992–1994	England U21	12	(0)
1998	England B	1	(0)
1999–2000	England	10	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Raymond "Ray" Parlour (born 7 March 1973 in Barking, London, UK), is a retired English footballer. He spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull City. During his Arsenal career he was nicknamed "The Romford Pelé";^[2] although the nickname was given with an ironic sense of humour,^[3] on account of his solid performance but unglamorous image. He has been described as an "unsung hero"^[4] and praised as a "fans' favourite" for his high-energy performances.^[5] He is now a pundit on television, as well as on radio stations BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport.

Football career[link]

Arsenal[link]

Parlour is most famous for his time at Arsenal, where he played for 14 years. He joined Arsenal as a trainee in 1989, and made his debut for the Gunners against Liverpool on January 29, 1992, where he conceded a penalty in a 2–0 defeat. Parlour continued to be a bit-part player for the next few years, and was more noted for several disciplinary problems (such as a run-in with a Hong Kong taxi driver while on tour). He did however make 12 appearances for the England U21 team during this time...

He properly broke through in 1994–95, and played in Arsenal's European Cup Winners' Cup final loss to Real Zaragoza that season (having been an unused sub in the Gunners' 1–0 triumph over Parma the previous season). However, Parlour only fully developed as a player after the arrival of Arsène Wenger as manager in 1996; he became a regular fixture playing on the right wing or in central midfield for Arsenal; in 1997–98 Arsenal won the Double and Parlour proved instrumental. He was man-of-the-match in the Gunners' FA Cup Final win over Newcastle United that season; he set up Nicolas Anelka for Arsenal's second goal in a 2–0 win.^[6] However, he missed out on the 1998 World Cup that summer (England coach Glenn Hoddle preferring Spurs' Darren Anderton instead).

Parlour finally made his England debut as a substitute in a Euro 2000 qualifier against Poland on March 27, 1999. He won ten caps for his country but did not score any goals; the closest he came was in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Finland on October 11, 2000. Parlour 'scored' with a 30-yard strike which hit the crossbar and was incorrectly designated by the linesman not to have gone over the goal-line;^[7] the match finished 0–0. Parlour did not feature in any tournament finals; a knee injury forced him to withdraw from England's squad for Euro 2000. His final cap came in a friendly against Italy on November 15, 2000; Parlour was called up into the squad several times by new coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, but he never made it onto the pitch under the Swede.

Parlour continued to enjoy success with Arsenal for another four years (winning another Double in 2002), but generally received little acclaim in the media compared with many of his more illustrious Arsenal team-mates, especially as he was almost constantly living in the shadow of Patrick Vieira for much of his time at the club. He finally claimed his place in the spotlight with a 30-yard strike to open the scoring in the 2002 FA Cup Final against Chelsea, which was famously pre-empted by Soccer AM's Tim Lovejoy with "Don't worry, it's only Ray Parlour"; Arsenal won 2–0, with the second goal from Fredrik Ljungberg. In total, with Arsenal, Parlour won three FA Premier League titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup and one European Cup Winners' Cup having played 464 games and scoring 32 goals in all competitions.

In March 2000, he hit a hattrick in a 4–2 away win at Werder Bremen in a UEFA Cup quarter final tie. Arsenal went on to reach the final of the competition that year. Parlour was the only Arsenal player successful from the spot in their shootout defeat to Galatasaray. Seven months later, he followed it up with another hattrick in a 5–0 demolition of Newcastle United at Highbury. In April 2001, he struck a spectacular 30-yard winner as Arsenal beat Valencia 2–1 in the UEFA Champions' League Quarter Final 1st leg tie at Highbury. Another one of Parlour's finest moments in Arsenal colours came in November 2003, when as stand-in captain, he led Arsenal to a famous 5–1 win against Internazionale at San Siro. Finally, one of the crowning moments of Parlour's career was his goal from 30 yards in the 2002 FA Cup Final against Chelsea. These performances over the years have led many Arsenal fans to believe that he is one of the most underrated players of his generation.^[8]

Middlesbrough[link]

He moved to Middlesbrough in mid-2004, although he still remains a fans' favourite at Arsenal. He was recently named the 19th greatest player in the club's history. He played 60 games for Boro in two and a half years, and was an unused substitute in Middlesbrough's appearance in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Sevilla, which they lost 4–0. Parlour was released from his contract on 25 January 2007 and for a brief period trained with old club Arsenal in order to regain fitness with a view to finding a new club.^[9]

Hull City[link]

On 9 February 2007, he signed for Hull City until the end of the 2006–07 season.^[10] After helping City avoid relegation, it was confirmed on 1 June that Parlour was not offered a new contract and this meant he was released.^[11]

Parlour has emerged as one of the most influential players for The England Legends, a 16-man squad of former internationals who have played Italy, Germany, Scotland, Ireland and The Rest of The World.^[12]

Marriage[link]

Parlour married his wife Karen in 1998; the couple had three children before separating in 2001. In July 2004, they agreed a divorce settlement which awarded Karen Parlour two houses and a £250,000 lump sum but the issue of maintenance was not agreed. Ray Parlour offered Karen £120,000 p.a. on the basis that this would meet all of her and their children's needs, but she wanted more. Initially the court awarded her £212,500 a year, but both parties were unsatisfied with this and appealed.

The Court of Appeal increased Karen's award to £440,000 p.a. However, this would only be paid for five years to enable her to put aside £250,000 each year to build up her own capital resources. The case brought with it media speculation that future divorce cases would bring people a more equal share in their former partner's future earnings, and a possible increased usage of prenuptial agreements.^[13]

Honours[link]

Career statistics[link]

^[14][15]

(* Includes FA Cup match against Sheffield United of which the result was declared void, but Arsenal still include it in their statistics.)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Parlour

• Ray Parlour career stats at Soccerbase
• Ray Parlour article on Arsenal-land

The Right Honourable Alan Sugar
Sugar at the 2009 BAFTAs
Member of the House of Lords
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 June 2009
Personal details
Born	Alan Michael Sugar (1947-03-24) 24 March 1947 (age 65) Hackney, East London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour[1]
Spouse(s)	Ann Simons, Lady Sugar (m. 1968) «start: (1968-04-29)»"Marriage: Ann Simons, Lady Sugar to Alan Sugar" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.db.wn.com/index.php/Alan_Sugar)
Children	The Hon. Simon Sugar The Hon. Daniel Sugar The Hon. Louise Sugar
Residence	Chigwell, Essex, UK[2]
Occupation	Former owner of Amstrad Former Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Host of the The Apprentice UK
Net worth	£770 million[3] (US$1.14 billion)

Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m (US$1.14 billion),^[3] and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011.^[4] In 2007, he sold his remaining interest in the consumer electronics company Amstrad, his largest and best known business venture.^[5]

Sugar is also notable for his time as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur from 1991 to 2001. He starred in the BBC TV series The Apprentice, which has run to eight series. It has been broadcast annually since 2005 and is based upon the popular U.S. television show of the same name, featuring the American entrepreneur Donald Trump.^[6]

Early life[link]

Sugar was born in Hackney, east London.^[7] He is the youngest of four children of Fay (1907–1994)^[8][9] and Nathan (1907–1987)^[9] Sugar. His father was a tailor in the East End garment industry.^[10]

When Sugar was a child, his family lived in a council flat. Because of his profuse, curly hair, he was nicknamed "Mopsy".^[11] He attended Northwold Primary School and then Brooke House Secondary School in Upper Clapton, Hackney, and made extra money by boiling and selling beetroot from a stall.^[11] In The Apprentice (2009), Sugar revealed "I was in the Jewish Lads Brigade, Stamford Hill Division, Trainee Bugler, but it didn't make me sell computers!" After leaving school at 16,^[12] he worked briefly for the civil service as a statistician at the Ministry of Education. He started selling car aerials and electrical goods out of a van he had bought with his savings of £100.^[13]

Personal life[link]

Sugar met his wife Ann (née Simons) when he was 17. They married on 28 April 1968; they have two sons and a daughter. Sugar and his wife live in Chigwell, Essex.^[14][2] They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on 11 May 2008 in a party at their home, where Bruce Forsyth was the compere, Jackie Mason the comic and Sir Elton John played a set.^[15] His niece through marriage is actress Rita Simons, best known for playing Roxy Mitchell on the popular UK soap opera EastEnders.

A collector of classic Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars, Sugar owns a Rolls Royce Phantom with the number plate AMS1, which appears during all episodes of The Apprentice. A qualified pilot with 30 years experience, Sugar owns a Cirrus SR20 four-seat aircraft, based at Stapleford Airfield.^[16][17] During an attempted landing at City Airport Manchester on 5 July 2008, Sugar suffered a crash in this aircraft because of wet and soft field conditions.^[18] No injuries were sustained, although Sugar was said to be "very shaken". He is a fan of and the former owner of Tottenham Hotspur.

In February 2009, it was reported that Sugar had initiated legal proceedings against The Sun newspaper following a report that he had been named on a "hit list" of British Jews in response to Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza.^[19] The threats are alleged to have been made by Glen Jenvey, the source of the original story in The Sun, who posted to a Muslim website under a false identity.^[20]

Political involvement[link]

In February 2009, the Evening Standard journalist Andrew Gilligan claimed that Sugar had been approached to be the Labour candidate for Mayor of London in 2012.^[21] Sugar subsequently ridiculed the claim in an interview with The Guardian.^[22] But, during Prime Minister Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, the BBC reported that Sugar would become Lord Sugar and had been offered a job as the government's "Enterprise Champion".^[23] On 7 June 2009 Sugar sought to clarify the non-political nature of his appointment. He stated that he would not be joining the government, that the appointment was politically neutral, and that all he wanted to do was help businesses and entrepreneurs.^[24]

Ventures[link]

Amstrad[link]

Sugar founded Amstrad in 1968, the name being an acronym of his initials – Alan Michael Sugar Trading. Despite this acronym, Sugar also trades under other business names, see below. The company began as a general importer/exporter and wholesaler, but soon specialised in consumer electronics. By 1970, the first manufacturing venture was underway. He achieved lower production prices by using injection moulding plastics for hi-fi turntable covers, severely undercutting competitors who used vacuum-forming processes. Manufacturing capacity was soon expanded to include the production of audio amplifiers and tuners.

Amstrad's CPC 464 Computer

In 1980, Amstrad was listed on the London Stock Exchange and during the 1980s, Amstrad doubled its profit and market value every year.^[25] By 1984, recognising the opportunity of the home computer era, Amstrad launched an 8-bit machine Amstrad CPC 464. Although the CPC range were attractive machines, with CP/M-capability and a good BASIC interpreter, it had to compete with its arch-rivals, the more graphically complex Commodore 64 and the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum, not to mention the highly sophisticated BBC Micro. Despite this, three million units were sold worldwide with a long production life of eight years.^[26] It inspired an East German version with Russian Z80 clone processors.^[27] In 1985, Sugar had another major breakthrough with the launch of the Amstrad PCW 8256 word processor which, although made of cheap components, retailed at over £300. In 1986 Amstrad bought the rights to the Sinclair computer product line and produced two more ZX Spectrum models in a similar style to their CPC machines. It also developed the PC1512, a PC compatible computer, which became quite popular in Europe^[28] and was the first in a line of Amstrad PCs.

At its peak, Amstrad achieved a stock market value of £1.2 billion,^[29] but the 1990s proved a difficult time for the company. The launch of a range of business PCs was marred by unreliable hard disks (supplied by Seagate), which occasioned a high level of customer dissatisfaction and damage to Amstrad's reputation in the personal computer market, from which it never recovered.^[14] Subsequently, Amstrad sued Seagate for $100 million for lost revenue. In the early 1990s, Amstrad began to focus on portable computers rather than desktop computers. Also, in 1990, Amstrad entered the gaming market with the Amstrad GX4000, but it was a commercial failure, largely because there was only a poor selection of games available on it.^[30] Additionally, it was immediately superseded by the Japanese consoles: Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, which both had a much more comprehensive selection of games. In 1993, Amstrad released the PenPad, a PDA, and bought into Betacom and Viglen, so as to focus more on telecommunications rather than computers. Amstrad released the first of its combined telephony and e-mail devices, called the e-m@iler, followed by the e-m@ilerplus in 2002, neither of which is sold extensively.^[31]

On 31 July 2007 it was announced that broadcaster BSkyB had agreed to buy Amstrad for about £125m.^[32] At the time of the takeover, Sugar commented that he wished to play a part in the business, saying: "I turn 60 this year and I have had 40 years of hustling in the business, but now I have to start thinking about my team of loyal staff, many of whom have been with me for many years." On 2 July 2008 it was announced that Sugar was standing down from Amstrad as chairman, to focus solely on his other business interests.^[33]

Tottenham Hotspur[link]

After a take-over battle with Robert Maxwell, Sugar teamed up with Terry Venables and bought Tottenham Hotspur football club in June 1991. Although Sugar's initial investment helped ease the financial troubles the club was suffering at the time, his treatment of Tottenham as a business venture and not a footballing one made him an unpopular figure among the Spurs fans.^[34] In Sugar's nine years as chairman, Tottenham Hotspur did not finish in the top six in the league and won just one trophy, the 1999 Football League Cup.

Sugar sacked Venables the night before the 1993 FA Cup Final, a decision which led to Venables appealing to the high courts for reinstatement. A legal battle for the club took place over the summer, which Sugar won (see Re Tottenham Hotspur plc [1994] 1 BCLC 655). The decision to sack Venables angered many of Tottenham fans, and Sugar later said, "I felt as though I'd killed Bambi."^[35]

In 1992 he was the only representative of the then big five (Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham) who voted in favour of SKY's bid for Premier League television rights. The other four voted in favour of ITV's bid, as it had promised to show big fives games more often. At the time of the vote, Sugar's company Amstrad was developing satellite dishes for SKY.

In 1994 Sugar financed the transfers of three stars of the 1994 World Cup: Ilie Dumitrescu, Gica Popescu, and most notably Jürgen Klinsmann, who had an excellent first season in English football, being named Footballer of the Year. Because Spurs had not qualified for the UEFA Cup, Klinsmann decided to invoke an opt-out clause in his contract and left for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1995. Sugar appeared on television holding the last shirt Klinsmann wore for Spurs and said he wouldn't wash his car with it. He called foreigners coming into the Premier League at high wages as "Carlos Kickaballs". Klinsmann retaliated by calling Sugar "a man without honour", and said:

"He only ever talks about money. He never talks about the game. I would say there is a big question mark over whether Sugar's heart is in the club and in football. The big question is what he likes more, the business or the football?"^[36] Klinsmann re-signed for Tottenham on loan in December 1997.

In October 1998, former Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham released his autobiography, in which he attacked Sugar as the reason he left Tottenham in 1997. Sheringham said Sugar had accused him of feigning injury during a long spell on the sidelines during the 1993/1994 season. He wrote that Sugar had refused to give him the five-year contract he wanted, as he had not believed Sheringham would still get into the Tottenham team when he was 36. Sheringham returned to Tottenham after his spell at Manchester United and continued to start for the first team until he was released in the summer of 2003, at age 37. Sheringham said that Sugar lacked ambition and was hypocritical. As an example, Sugar asked him for recommendations of players; when Sheringham suggested England midfielder Paul Ince, Sugar refused because he did not want to spend £4 million on a player who would soon be 30. After Sheringham left Spurs, Sugar approved the signing of Les Ferdinand, aged 31, for a club record £6 million, on higher wages than Sheringham had wanted.^[37]

Sugar appointed seven managers in his time at Spurs. The first was Peter Shreeves, followed by the dual management team of Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence, former Spurs midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles, and up and coming young manager Gerry Francis. In 1997 Sugar stunned the footballing world by appointing the relatively unknown Swiss manager Christian Gross. Gross lasted 9 months as Spurs finished in 14th place in 1998, and began the next season with just 3 points from their opening three games. Sugar next appointed George Graham, a former player and manager of bitter rivals Arsenal. Despite his earning Tottenham's first trophy in 8 years, the Spurs fans never warmed to Graham, partly because of his Arsenal connections. They disliked the negative, defensive style of football which he had Spurs playing; fans claimed it was not the "Tottenham way".^[38]

In February 2001, Sugar sold his majority stake at Tottenham to leisure group ENIC, selling 27% of the club for £22 million.^[39] In June 2007, Sugar sold his remaining shares to ENIC for £25 million,^[40] ending his 16 year association with the club. He has described his time at Tottenham as "a waste of my life".^[41]. Sugar later donated £3 million from the proceeds of the sale of his interests in Tottenham Hotspur to the refurbishment of the Hackney Empire in his native East End of London. ^[42]

Amsair[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2010)

Amsair Executive Aviation was founded in 1993, and is run by Sugar's son Daniel Patrick. As with Amstrad, the name Amsair is an acronym taken from the initials of Sugar's name "Alan Michael Sugar Air." Amsair operates a large Cessna fleet, and one Embraer Legacy 650 with the registration G-SUGA, offering business and executive jet charters.

Amsprop[link]

Amsprop is an investment firm owned by Sugar and controlled by his son Daniel Patrick. In September 2006 it bought the IBM South Bank building from private investors for £115 million. The IBM Centre occupies a prime site between the river and Upper Ground east of the National Theatre and west of ITV's London Television Centre. IBM's lease runs for another eight years. The trade press speculates that the site is likely to present a major redevelopment opportunity.^[43] This was featured in the last episode of the 2007 series of the Apprentice UK on 13 June that year, with the final two contestants planning to build a unique property that would be symbolic in the London skyline.

Simon Ambrose, winner of the 2007 series of The Apprentice, started working for Amsprop Estates after the series finished. However, in April 2010, he was reported to be leaving to start his own venture.^[44]

Viglen Ltd[link]

Sugar was the owner (and Chairman of the board) of Viglen Ltd, an IT services provider catering primarily to the education and public sector. He resigned his position on 01 July 2009. Following the sale of Amstrad PLC to BSkyB, Viglen is now Sugar's sole IT establishment.^[45]

Amscreen[link]

Sugar is Chairman of Amscreen, a company run by his eldest son Simon Sugar, specialising in selling advertising space on digital signage screens that it provides to retailers, medical centres and leisure venues.

Apprentice winner Yasmina Siadatan works there, selling into the NHS.^[46]

YouView[link]

On 7 March 2011, Sugar replaced Kip Meek on the board of the BBC initiated IPTV project known as YouView (formerly known as Project Canvas) which is also backed by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and broadband providers including BT and TalkTalk.^[47]

TV appearances[link]

[edit] The Apprentice

Sugar became the star of the BBC reality show The Apprentice which has had one series broadcast each year from 2005, in the same role as Donald Trump in the US version. Sugar fires a candidate each week until one candidate is left, who is then employed in his company or (since the 2011 series) wins a partnership with Sugar, including his investment of £250,000 to establish their own business.

As a condition for appearing in the third series, Sugar placed a requirement that the show be more business-orientated rather than just entertainment and that he should be portrayed in a less harsh light, to counter his somewhat belligerent reputation.^[48] He also expressed a desire that the calibre of the candidates should be higher than those who had appeared in the second series (who had come across as manifestly lacklustre) and that the motives of the candidates for participating are scrutinised more carefully, given that certain of the candidates in previous series had used their successful experience in the show as a springboard to advance their own careers (as occurred with Michelle Dewberry, the winner of the second series, who left Amstrad's employment only 8 months after taking up the job).

Sugar has criticised the US version of The Apprentice because "they’ve made the fatal error of trying to change things just for the sake of it and it backfired."^[49]

[edit] Young Apprentice

Young Apprentice (Junior Apprentice in series 1) is a British reality television programme in which a group of twelve young people, aged 16 and 17, compete to win a £25,000 prize from the British business magnate Lord Sugar. The six-part series began on BBC One and BBC HD on Wednesday, 12 May 2010, concluding on Thursday, 10 June of the same year, and also featured Nick Hewer and Karren Brady as Sugar's advisors. Karren Brady made her debut on Junior Apprentice, because it aired before she appeared on the adult version. The programme concluded with Sugar awarding the prize fund to 17-year-old Arjun Rajyagor and Tim Ankers finished in second place.

The second series started in October 2011, and this time featured eight episodes and twelve contestants. The series was won by Zara Brownless, with James McCullough as runner-up.

Originally proposed in March 2008 and confirmed in June 2009, Junior Apprentice received mostly positive reviews from critics. The programme is a spin-off from the series The Apprentice, which was in turn spawned from an American series of the same name, which stars the entrepreneur Donald Trump. Sugar's role under Gordon Brown's government sparked a debate over the BBC's political impartiality regulations in the run-up to the UK 2010 election, resulting in both Junior Apprentice and the sixth regular edition of The Apprentice being delayed. ^[50]

Other appearances[link]

In May 2008, Sugar made an appearance on An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle to pay tribute to Jeremy Beadle as they were close friends and both appeared on a celebrity special of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2005.^[51]

In January 2009, Fiona Bruce presented a BBC Two documentary entitled The Real Sir Alan.^[11] Also in 2009, Sugar appeared in television advertisements for investment bank NS&I and The Learning and Skills Council talking about apprenticeships.

In May 2011, Sugar presented Lord Sugar Tackles Football, a documentary looking into the financial woes of English football.^[52]

Honours and philanthropy[link]

Sugar was knighted in 2000 for services to business.^[53] He holds two honorary Doctorates of Science, awarded in 1988 by City University and in 2005 by Brunel University.^[54] He is a philanthropist for charities such as Jewish Care and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and donated £200,000 to the British Labour Party in 2001.^[55] On 5 June 2009 it was reported that Sugar had been offered a peerage by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as part of a new enterprise role in his government,^[56] and he was subsequently created Baron Sugar, of Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney.^[57][58]

Controversy[link]

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (June 2010)

Sex discrimination law[link]

Sugar has been accused of having an "outdated" attitude towards women.^[59] Regarding the 1970s UK law which states that it is discriminatory and hence illegal for women to be asked at interview whether they plan to have children,^[60] Sugar is quoted as saying, "These laws are counter-productive for women, that's the bottom line. You're not allowed to ask, so it's easy – just don't employ them. It will get harder to get a job as a woman."^[61]

Bullying[link]

Critics have described Sugar as "out-of-touch" and his work ethic as "a model of bad management in the UK. Negative, bullying and narrow-minded... (Sugar) rules by fear."^[62] Concerns have been raised by anti-bullying charity Kidscape that "publicly humiliating" contestants on The Apprentice may give bullying credibility.^[63]

Gaffe[link]

In February 2005 Sugar famously predicted that the iPod would be "dead, finished, gone, kaput" by the following Christmas. The comment topped the poll by T3 on the ten worst technology predictions ever.^[64]

Prejudicial tweet[link]

In January 2012, on the second day of the trial of Lord Taylor of Warwick for false accounting, Sugar was ordered by Mr Justice Saunders, sitting in the Crown Court at Southwark, to remove a tweet which the court ruled could prejudice the trial. He was also referred to Her Majesty's Attorney General, Dominic Grieve MP QC in relation to a possible contempt of court. No action was, however, taken against him.^[65]

See also[link]

• What You See Is What You Get (book)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• David Thomas, "Alan Sugar – the Amstrad Story" (1991), paperback ISBN 978-0-330-31900-3.
• Alan Sugar, "The Apprentice: How to get hired not fired"
• Alan Sugar, "What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography" (2010), hardback ISBN 978-0-230-74933-7.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sir Alan Sugar

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Apprentice (UK)

• Alan Sugar at the Internet Movie Database
• Amstrad website
• Amsair website
• Amscreen website
• BBC's The Apprentice

Harry Redknapp

Redknapp before a preseason match against Brighton in July 2011.
Personal information
Full name	Henry James Redknapp[1]
Date of birth	(1947-03-02) 2 March 1947 (age 65)
Place of birth	Poplar, London, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Tottenham Hotspur (Manager)
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[2]	24	(0)
1982	Bournemouth	1	(0)
Total		276	(12)
National team
1964	England Youth
Teams managed
1983–1992	Bournemouth
1994–2001	West Ham United
2002–2004	Portsmouth
2004–2005	Southampton
2005–2008	Portsmouth
2008–	Tottenham Hotspur
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (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 is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

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.^[3] At the conclusion of the 2009–10 season he guided Tottenham into the UEFA Champions League for the very first time.^[4] Redknapp subsequently oversaw Spurs' progress to the last 16 of that tournament when defeating German side Werder Bremen at home.^[5] They were the only new club to have qualified for the next stage of the competition^[6] and went on to top their group ahead of holders Inter Milan.^[7] Redknapp then helped his team beat AC Milan over two legs to reach the quarter-finals.^[8]

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.

Former Leeds United midfielder and Republic of Ireland manager Johnny Giles said Redknapp had "a very, very good knowledge of the game" and was "a good judge of a footballer and 80-90 per cent of successful management is about getting the right players in the club. You don't see him complicating it with big tactics or formations".^[9]

Personal life[link]

Redknapp was born in Poplar, London,^[10] the only child of Henry Joseph William Redknapp (1922–1996) and Violet May Brown (1924–2001).^[11]

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.^[12] 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".^[13]

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."^[14]

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.^[15]

He and his wife Sandra are currently the fundraising presidents for the Southampton based charity Leukaemia Busters,^[16] a role that they took over in 2004 previously held by former cricketer David Gower and his wife Thorunn.^[17]

Redknapp and his wife also own a property development company (Pierfront Developments); in August 2011, it was announced that a housing development their company are 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.^[18]

In January 2011, he was mugged while attending a football game in Spain.^[19]

On 2 November 2011, he had an operation to unblock coronary arteries.^[20]

Playing career[link]

West Ham United[link]

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 the 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.^[21]

Bournemouth[link]

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[link]

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.^[22] Before returning to Seattle, he appeared briefly for AP Leamington in the Southern League Premier Division ^[23] 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[link]

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.^[24]

Management and coaching career[link]

Seattle Sounders and Oxford City[link]

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 2nd 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 3rd 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 3rd 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[link]

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.^[25] 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.^[26] 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.^[27]

West Ham United[link]

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.^[28]

Redknapp helped to stabilise the club and establish it in the Premier League, and also helped bring through 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. However, Redknapp also made mistakes in the foreign market with the signings of Marco Boogers, and Florin Raducioiu proving to be expensive flops.

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, ^[29]

Portsmouth[link]

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.^[30] 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.^[31]

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.^[32]

Southampton[link]

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".^[33]

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.^[34] 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".^[35]

Return to Portsmouth[link]

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.^[36]

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."^[37] 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.^[38]

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.^[39]

Freedom of Portsmouth[link]

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.^[40]

Tottenham Hotspur[link]

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.^[41] Tottenham paid £5 million in compensation to Portsmouth for letting Redknapp go.^[42] 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,^[43] while midfielder Didier Zokora departed for Sevilla for £7.75 million.^[44] In came England striker Peter Crouch and Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjčar from Portsmouth for £9 million and £2 million respectively^[45][46] along with defender Sébastien Bassong from Newcastle United for £8 million.^[47]

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,^[48] 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.^[49]

On 13 July 2010, it was confirmed that Spurs had extended Redknapp's contract until the end of the 2013 season.^[50]

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.^[51] After a surprising run to the quarter-finals, they were knocked out in April 2011, after a 5–0 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid.^[52] 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.^[53][54] Redknapp then went on to win the Manager of the Month award for September and November.^[55][56][57]

Corruption allegations and arrest[link]

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".^[58]

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.^[59]

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.^[60] Redknapp was later released without charge, and announced his intention to take the police to court over his arrest,^[61] considering it as the reason for the failure of the FA to consider him for manager of England after the sacking of Steve McClaren.^[62] 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 GB£1,000 damages to Redknapp as well as part of his legal costs.^[63]

Following further investigation by HM Revenue & Customs as part of the corruption enquiry,^[64] in January 2010, Redknapp was charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue, along with Milan Mandarić.^[65] 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.^[66] He was found not guilty on both counts on 8 February.^[67]

England manager's job[link]

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.^[68] 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.^[69]

Honours[link]

As a manager[link]

Bournemouth

• Football League Division Three: 1986–87
• Football League Trophy: 1983–84

West Ham United

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999

Portsmouth

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

Tottenham Hotspur

• Football League Cup runners up: 2009

Individual[link]

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

Statistics[link]

Player[link]

^{[2] [70] [71] [72]}

Manager[link]

^[73]

As of 13 May 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]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harry Redknapp

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