Having failed to keep an expensively assembled team in the Premier League the previous season, he was now struggling to take the biggest and best squad in the Championship back at the first attempt. In the end, Rangers limped over the line, snatching a last-minute winner in the play-off final against a seemingly superior Derby side.
Redknapp seemed distant, at times almost uninterested in the task at hand. It seemed a little of the old lustre had gone, as if all the physical and mental strain of the last two years was finally taking its toll. He was like a man, for want of a more appropriate phrase, suffering from a broken heart.
Having been widely tipped to walk the division, QPR finished fourth, scoring just 60 goals in the process — just two more than a Birmingham City side who only avoided relegation on goal difference. There was little of the old trademark swagger or fire. This wasn't just jealous fans of Redknapp's rivals sticking the boot in: many at the clubs he has left behind have harsh words for their former boss. Most West Ham fans feel he wasted the money raised by the sale of Rio Ferdinand on a string of mediocre players Titi Camara and Rigobert Song to name but two.
Most Portsmouth fans hate him for jumping ship for Southampton, before returning to oversee an era of lavish short-termist spending which ultimately brought the club to its knees. Most Tottenham fans hate him for failing to commit to a club that stood by him during his legal difficulties when the England job came up. I could go on," Aston Villa fan Ryan Walmsley said in last week's survey.
It could also be said that, while none of the legal charges down the years have stuck, perhaps some of the mud has: ask most fans why they don't like Redknapp and a significant percentage will question his wholesomeness. Football fans love gossip and nobody provides it quite like Harry.
His close relationship with the sections of the press has encouraged the loving collection of every soundbite, including those which get him into trouble. The comments irked the then England skipper Steven Gerrard, who said Redknapp should name the players, if his claims were true.
The Reveller. The Optimist. ES Best. ES Mag. Follow us:. Password Please enter a valid password. Submit Submit. H arry Redknapp has hit out at the abusive supporters who damage football after revealing he had received sick telephone calls following his departure from Portsmouth to Tottenham. Redknapp said: "It's disappointing Wilson had to go back to Honduras.
Ring any bells, QPR? When it came down to the last day, the south-coast side could have stayed up with a home win against Manchester United. They lost; few were truly surprised. They might not have needed the result, however, if they had not feebly capitulated to the old enemy some weeks before, a depressing defeat by Pompey, who gloried in barracking their defected former boss. Specifics aside, beating the drop that year was a difficult but achievable task; Redknapp failed.
He might have been forgiven for it if not for his next move. There were more damaging figures at work at St Mary's at the same time; mad, despotic chairman Rupert Lowe astonished and embarrassed fans by appointing rugby union icon Sir Clive Woodward in a meaningful capacity the following season.
Yet when Redknapp resigned he still came off worse; for he admitted that his heart had never been in it — he should never have left his "spiritual home" at Portsmouth.
Within days, he was back at Fratton Park. Now the Saints faithful were furious; would a "real football man" have taken a job working for the fierce rivals of his spiritual home?
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