Broken Dreams by Tom Bower

Author:Tom Bower [Bower, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

9

THE MANAGER: HARRY REDKNAPP

Even among hardened football fans the transfer of Rio Ferdinand from West Ham to Leeds on 25 November 2000 for £18 million provoked sensational gossip. Not only was £18 million a record for a British defender, but the roll-call of those involved raised questions about the process of the negotiations and disbursement of the money. The absence of an independent regulator permitted the colourful participants in the transaction to plead confidentiality and disappear. The gossip, however, persisted.

The focus was on Harry Redknapp, the raucous manager of West Ham. Born in London’s East End on 2 March 1947, Redknapp was the son of a docker who, after his apprenticeship at West Ham’s youth academy, became an acknowledged football player and successfully passed the ball to the legendary Geoff Hurst. The former barrow boy and aspiring second-hand car dealer was appointed a club coach. In 1994, he was appointed West Ham’s manager, a living symbol, portraying all the traditions of English football.

Football and money were Harry Redknapp’s preoccupation during his seven years’ management of West Ham. The pugnacious Cockney frequently boasted that other than Sandra, his blonde wife, football was his ‘obsession’. No one doubted his love of football. In Harry Redknapp’s life that passion nearly equalled his ambition for personal wealth. ‘At the end of the day,’ he pontificated with sincerity, ‘no one gives a monkey’s about you once your career’s over so in my view you should make the bucks while you can.’ In Redknapp’s view a manager’s insecurity justified greed. ‘Do your best,’ Redknapp recommended, ‘don’t rip anybody off on the way, but if there’s a chance to earn a few quid, take it because it doesn’t last for ever.’

Harry Redknapp was emphatic that he had never taken a ‘bung’ or that as an established gambler he deserved the sobriquet ‘Readies Redknapp’. Before signing his contract with West Ham, he was told by the club’s lawyers to carefully read the ‘ferocious clauses’ forbidding any secret payments. Their existence provoked Redknapp to declare with unexpected passion, ‘I don’t need to be greedy like George Graham. I don’t need to jeopardize my son’s life. I couldn’t face my son. Money is not my God.’ Redknapp talked much about money. He lived in a palatial house by the sea in Poole near Bournemouth and enjoyed expensive foreign holidays. The contrast between the hang-dog authentic Englishman thanking his ‘missus’ for making eggs, beans and a cup of tea and the tycoon manager sharing bottles of pink champagne with Ron Atkinson, an idol, suggested a man feeling entitled to take out as much as he put in. Haggling over the price of a player was, in ‘’Arry the ’Ammer’s’ opinion, the epitome of astute business. Despite West Ham’s limited finances, Redknapp appeared to be obsessed by trading players. One hundred and thirty-four players would be transferred during his seven years of management, an extraordinary number. Like an East End barrow boy, Redknapp loved dealing. No deal was bigger than the sale of Rio Ferdinand, the club’s star defender born in November 1978 in Peckham, south London.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.