Loftus Road
The Loft
Full name	Loftus Road Stadium
Location	South Africa Road, Shepherd's Bush, London, W12 7PJ
Coordinates	51°30′33″N 0°13′56″W / 51.50917°N 0.23222°W / 51.50917; -0.23222Coordinates: 51°30′33″N 0°13′56″W / 51.50917°N 0.23222°W / 51.50917; -0.23222
Built	1904
Opened	1904
Capacity	18,360[1]
Field dimensions	112yd x 72yd
Tenants
Shepherd's Bush F.C. (1904-1915) Queens Park Rangers F.C. (1917–31, 1933-62, 1963-present) London Wasps (Guinness Premiership) (1996–2002) Fulham F.C. (2002–2004)

Loftus Road is a football stadium located in Shepherd's Bush, London. It was originally the home stadium of Shepherd's Bush F.C., but became home to its most famous club for the first time in 1917 when English football team Queens Park Rangers moved in for the first of its three periods at the stadium. In 1981 the ground became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed, which remained until 1988. The four stands are the Loftus Road End (often shortened to The Loft), Ellerslie Road Stand, South Africa Road Stand and the School End, which is used by away supporters.

Rugby union team London Wasps shared the ground with QPR between 1996 until Premier League side Fulham replaced them in 2002, when Fulham's Craven Cottage was closed for reconstruction. Other occasional users of the stadium have included the Jamaican and Australian national football teams, and in 1985 the stadium saw Barry McGuigan defeat Eusebio Pedroza for the World Boxing Association featherweight championship. Loftus Road is the smallest stadium in the Premier League, and has led to several of QPR's management team to suggest that the club needs to move away from the stadium in order to achieve its ambitions.

History[link]

The ground was first used on 22 October 1904 by Shepherd's Bush F.C., an amateur side that disbanded during the First World War.^[2] QPR moved to Loftus Road in 1917, having had their ground at Park Royal commandeered by the army in 1915.^[3] At that time the ground was an open field with a pavilion. One stand from Park Royal was dismantled and re-erected forming the Ellerslie Road stand in 1919. This stand remained as the only covered seating in the ground until 1968 and was replaced in 1972. It had a capacity of 2,950.^[4]

QPR moved out of Loftus Road at the start of the 1931-32 season, moving nearby to White City Stadium, but after a loss of £7,000, the team moved back.^[3] In 1938 a new covered terrace for 6,000 spectators was constructed by a company called Framed Structures Ltd at the Loftus Road end taking the capacity up to 30,000. It cost £7,000 (with £1,500 donated by the QPR Supporters Club) and was opened by the Rt Hon Herbert Morrison, the leading Labour MP and future war time Home Secretary, at the match vs Crystal Palace on 29 October.^[5] The section of the terracing that was covered was concreted at this time with the uncovered section later concreted in 1945.

In April 1948, after winning the Third Division (South) championship, the club bought the freehold of the stadium plus 39 houses in Loftus Road and Ellerslie Road for £26,250. When the club's finances were under pressure in the late 1950s the houses had to be sold. On 5 October 1953 floodlights were used at Loftus Road for the first time for a friendly game against Arsenal. In the summer of 1966 the original floodlights were replaced by much taller floodlight pylons. In the summer of 1980 these in turn were replaced with the current floodlights.

QPR experimented once again with a move to White City Stadium in the 1962-63 season, but moved back to Loftus Road once more after only a single season.^[3] In the summer of 1968 the South Africa Road stand was constructed at a cost of £150,000 to replace the old open terracing. In 1972 a new stand was completed in Ellerslie Road, replacing the tin-roofed grandstand, and first used in the match versus Oxford United on 2 December 1972. The changing rooms and offices were moved to South Africa Road.

The stadium's highest recorded attendance of 35,353 was in a game against Leeds United on 27 April 1974. The following summer the paddock of the South Africa Road stand was converted from terracing to seating with the installation of 4,600 seats, thus lowering the capacity of the stadium to the 31,002 present for the last home match of the 1975/6 season against Leeds United on 24 April 1976.

During the summer of 1981 an artificial pitch of Omniturf was installed at Loftus Road, the first such surface to be used in British professional football.^[6] The surface was not favoured by everyone, with QPR keeper Peter Hucker describing it as "basically a bit of carpet over two feet of concrete", and stated that as a goalkeeper, he strongly disliked diving onto it saying that "I’d have close to third degree burns because the pitch would totally rip the skin off."^[6] During the time that Loftus Road had the Omniturf pitch installed, QPR reached two cup finals and became Second Division champions, something that critics claimed was caused by the advantage the pitch presented,^[6] and QPR's home games in the 1984–85 UEFA Cup were played at Arsenal's Highbury Stadium.^[3] It was claimed that manager Terry Venables would let opposition teams train on the pitch when it was dry, and then deliberately dampen the pitch so that the ball played differently to what they expected at kick off.^[6] It was removed in April 1988 because of football legislation and replaced with grass.^[7] There were just three other league stadiums in the whole country with a plastic pitch, and by 1994 all of these had been ripped up.^[8]

Lofus Road Stadium, South Africa Road entrance

New stands were opened at the School End in the summer of 1980 and one year later at the Loftus Road end. At the same time as the Loftus Road stand was built executive boxes were installed in the lower tier of the South Africa Road stand and the artificial pitch laid. The stadium capacity at this time was 27,000 and it was one of the most modern and advanced stadiums in Britain having been completely reconstructed over the 13-year period from 1968 to 1981. In the summer of 1994 the Loftus Road ground became an all-seater stadium with the construction of seating in the lower Loftus Road stand. The last match where home spectators were able to watch the match from terracing was on 16 April 1994 against Everton.

The owning company, also called Loftus Road, of QPR, London Wasps and the stadium itself, went into the red in the late 1990's only a couple of seasons after it was formed in 1996.^[9][10] In 2001, there were concerns that Queens Park Rangers and the stadium would need to be sold separately when the club went into administration. There was interest from commercial buyers and housing developers.^[11] A supporter's trust was set up to keep the club at Loftus Road, and to fight the suggested move out of the stadium and to Milton Keynes.^[12] One further suggestion was a merger between QPR and fellow London club Wimbledon, with the newly merged club playing at Loftus Road,^[13] but this idea was abandoned following the response from supporters.^[14] A £1 million payment by QPR's long time local rivals Fulham in 2002 helped to alleviate the financial problems in return for a ground sharing agreement while Craven Cottage was developed.^[15]

Loftus Road briefly became home to non-league football club Yeading as they faced Premiership club Newcastle United in the third round of the 2005 FA Cup. The decision was made as Yeading felt that their home stadium could not suitably segregate the fans.^[16] Despite holding out for fifty minutes, Yeading went on to lose the match 2-0.^[17]

The future[link]

Following a number of years of uncertainty as to whether the club would expand Loftus Road or relocate to a new site in the event of a return to the Premier League, it was announced by chairman Tony Fernandes on 28 November 2011 that the club was investigating the possibility of relocating to a new site in West London in order to build a bigger stadium.^[18] The current capacity of the stadium is 18,000, making it the smallest stadium in the Premier League. Fernandes estimated that they would be looking to create a stadium with a capacity of around 40,000 to 45,000 due to the catchment area in London that it would sit in.^[18]

This is not the first time that an owner has suggested moving out of Loftus Road, with director Antonio Caliendo suggesting a location near BBC Television Centre as a potential site for a new shopping and leisure development in March 2006,^[19] and then QPR manager Luigi De Canio suggesting in 2008 that the team needs to leave the stadium in order to fulfil its ambitions.^[20]

Structures and facilities[link]

Supporters at Loftus Road find themselves close to the pitch compared to other stadiums. All four of the modern stands meet with no gaps, giving an overall impression of a tightly enclosed stadium. The School End is the stand reserved for away supporters, and all the stands have two tiers with the exception of the Ellerslie Road Stand.^[3]

The South Africa Road stand is the biggest of the four stands at Loftus Road. It is a two tier stand which includes The Paddocks and contains a row of boxes separating The Paddocks and the upper tier. It also houses the dugouts, changing rooms, suites, tunnel, offices, club shop, box office and press conference rooms. The Paddocks area is the cheapest in the ground, whereas the upper tier is the most expensive. The new exclusive W12 and C Clubs are located here.

The Ellerslie Road Stand

The Loft is a two tier stand built in 1981 behind the goal and traditionally where most members and season ticket holders sit. This is the third most expensive stand to sit in. QPR generally attack this end in the second half because it is believed to be good luck. The police crowd observation box is located in this stand and it is home to the members' bar in the ground, The Blue and White Bar. A new colour scoreboard is located at this end, installed in Summer 2008, on the advertising boards between the upper and lower tiers.

The Ellerslie Road stand, rebuilt in 1972,^[3] is constantly renamed and sponsored, but QPR fans refer to it as the Ellerslie Road Stand. It is a single tiered stand and is the smallest in height, but not in noise and capacity. It is also the only stand not to be painted in blue and white hoops, instead it has "QPR" painted across it. It is home to the famous "R Block" where, along with the Loft's Q and P blocks sit QPR's partisan following. Most of the noise is generated from this stand, in addition to the Loft. This stand is a favourite of the fans because of the view and atmosphere. This is the second most expensive stand. It is also home to the commentary and television camera gantry.

At the west end of the ground is the School End built in 1980.^[3] 1,700 visiting supporters can be accommodated in the 'The School End' upper tier; 1,300 additional lower tier seats are also allocated to visitors if demand is high enough. A new big screen was erected on the roof of the School End in the summer of 2008 which shows match highlights during the game plus adverts. This joined a new colour scoreboard which is located on the advertising boards between the middle and lower tiers.

Other uses[link]

Loftus Road was home to professional rugby union team London Wasps from September 1996 to the end of the 2001–02 season,^[21] having moved from their home in Sudbury, Middlesex, as part of the deal in which Chris Wright took control of both Wasps and QPR.^[22] Wasps won the English Premiership in their first season at Loftus Road.^[21] It was part of a 7 year ground share deal negotiated by Chris Wright who had just bought Wasps as rugby union became professional. Wasps agreed to move out, to Wycombe Wanderers' Adams Park ground, at the end of the 2001–02 season to allow Fulham F.C. to rent for 2 seasons between 2002 and 2004, while their ground, Craven Cottage, was redeveloped. It was Fulham's preferred temporary ground, with the other suggested alternative being West Ham's Upton Park.^[21] It was open for Wasps to return,^[21] but Wasps decided not to move back after Fulham left.^[23] It has also been used to host the final of the British Universities and Colleges Sport football tournaments.^[24]

The venue has also been used to host boxing in the past, with one of the most notable bouts being between Irishman Barry McGuigan and Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza on 8 June 1985 for the WBA featherweight championship in front of 27,000 spectators. The stadium was transformed into a little bit of Ireland for the evening,^[25] with the Ireland's Saturday Night on sale, and man dressed as a leprechaun dancing around the ring before the main event. McGuigan won the bout on a points decision after 15 rounds, Pedroza had previously defended his title in nineteen bouts, and Ireland had not had a boxing world champion for 35 years.^[26]

Internationals[link]

Loftus Road has hosted England B internationals and was the first 'neutral' venue to capitalise on hosting international friendlies not involving England.^[27][28] In addition, in 2004, as part of the Gillette Tri-Nations rugby league competition, New Zealand lost against Australia 32-16.^[29] In 2005, Great Britain lost to New Zealand at the stadium in the same competition, 26–42.^[30]

A testimonial match for Simon Barker saw QPR lose to the Jamaican national team by 2-1 in May 1998,^[31] with the national team returning to Loftus Road in 2002 to play Nigeria where they lost 1-0.^[32] Israel requested to play their Euro 2004 qualifying match against Cyprus as UEFA had banned Israel from hosting home games on its own territory due to security concerns. The application was rejected as there were already five scheduled matches over the course of thirteen days as it was during the time that QPR were sharing Loftus Road with Fulham.^[33] QPR themselves played the Iranian national team in a pre-season friendly on 23 July 2005.^[34] On 14 November 2006, Australia drew 1–1 with Ghana in an international friendly at the ground. In 2007 Denmark won 3-1 against Australia at Loftus Road.^[35] In 2008, Australia played another friendly at Loftus Road against South Africa, the match ended 2–2.^[36] South Korea won 2–0 against Côte d'Ivoire at Loftus Road on 3 March 2010.^[37]

List of international matches[link]

A corner taken during the Australia vs South Africa international

Transport[link]

There are several nearby London Underground stations, the closest being White City, which is on the Central line, about five minutes walk away from the stadium. A further two minutes walk away is Wood Lane on the Hammersmith & City line. Other nearby stations include those at Shepherd's Bush, Shepherd's Bush Market which is also on the Hammersmith & City line, Shepherd's Bush on the Central line, and Shepherd's Bush which operations trains on the London Overground and Southern networks.^[42] The Underground stations have even previously been a method for opposing teams to arrive, with Coventry City's players arriving for a match via the tube station at Shepherd's Bush in 2008 after their coach got stuck in traffic.^[43]

A number of London Bus routes run nearby to the stadium. From South Africa Road to the north, the 228 runs in both directions, terminating at Maida Hill and Central Middlesex Hospital. On the same road, the 283 runs through to East Acton, and although it doesn't stop when running in the other direction on South Africa Road, it does stop on the adjacent Bloefonten Road. Other buses nearby are the 260, 207 and 607, each of which run down the Uxbridge Road.^[44]

References[link]

Specific

General

• Macey, Gordon (2009). Queens Park Rangers: The Complete Record. Derby, UK: Breedon. ISBN 978-1-85983-714-6. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loftus Road

• Queens Park Rangers' Website
• Picture Gallery Loftus Road on londonfootballguide.com

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