Source: Telegraph
Portsmouth fans prepare hostile welcome for Harry Redknapp
Come 3pm on Saturday, 18,000 fans will be baring their teeth at the return to Fratton Park of a man whose relationship with football supporters on the south coast is complicated to say the least.
Redknapp might be primarily responsible for Portsmouth’s Premier League status as well as the unlikely FA Cup triumph of 2008, but he has also walked away from the club twice.
Having been offered forgiveness once for controversially spending almost a year with Southampton - their most bitter rivals - there will be limited clemency, even a year on from the move to Tottenham.
Raw feelings have been heightened by Portsmouth’s acute financial problems and the subsequent exodus of players and staff to White Hart Lane.
Coincidentally, Redknapp’s penultimate home match for Portsmouth last year was against Tottenham and resulted in a 2-0 win, with goals from Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe.
Both England strikers have since followed him to Spurs, as has Niko Kranjcar, as well as former Pompey coaches Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan and chief scout Ian Broomfield.
The subsequent need to tackle spiralling debts has enabled Portsmouth to wipe £30 million off their wage bill and recoup some £75 million in transfer fees.
It has helped reduce bank loans from £40 million to £10 million, although they were still reliant upon the arrival of new owner Ali Al-Faraj, a Saudi property developer, simply to pay the players’ wages last month.
Results have inevitably deteriorated and, even allowing for the recent takeover and arrival of Avram Grant as director of football, Portsmouth remain firm favourites with most bookmakers to finish bottom of the league.
Assigning blame is complicated but, according to chief executive Peter Storrie - a rare constant at Fratton Park during eight roller-coaster years - it would be wrong to hold Redknapp responsible.
“Obviously Harry was told the funds were available from the owner and Harry built a pretty good team, and that was his way, but it is a bit of a warning to most clubs that go that way,” said Storrie.
“We are not the only club, there are a few others out there that if something regretfully happened to their owners, there would be a big issue. Sacha Gaydamak [the former owner], along with Harry, brought great success. The problem was - and this is the danger for clubs generally - it all happened so suddenly.
“Sacha’s way of running the club was that he would finance the transfers effectively and the excess on the players’ wages. Suddenly, overnight, the world collapsed in terms of financial aspects and much of Sacha’s stuff is to do with stocks and shares.
“He couldn’t pay for the existing transfers that were due over the next 18 months, hence why we had to sell so many players to survive.”
What cannot be doubted is Redknapp’s ability to persuade club owners and directors to spend.
“Harry Redknapp is the best in the world at getting the most money he can out of the chairman,” said Paul Walsh, the former Portsmouth and Tottenham striker.
“Whether it makes sound business sense or not, he’s not bothered. But it’s up to the money men to say he can or can’t do that. It was unsustainable.”
On a PR offensive this week, Redknapp has loudly proclaimed the profit that Portsmouth made on some of his signings and also pointed to the £5 million in compensation that was paid by Spurs for his own services.
He has also revealed that he nearly changed his mind when he was only 300 yards from Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy’s house. “I left the club because Sacha Gaydamak was looking to sell it,” he said.
“What’s happened since is down to him, unfortunately. When the owner doesn’t want to put money in you really are stuffed.”
Supporters are likely to remain unmoved. A local newspaper poll this week suggests that fewer than one in five fans are ready to offer an unconditional welcome.
It is, though, a different story behind the scenes at Fratton Park, where staff and players are largely grateful for Redknapp’s achievements. Manager Paul Hart, for one, had spent several months unemployed before being appointed as director of youth operations in March 2007.
“I wrote around to many Premiership clubs and said, ‘Without taking anyone’s job, if ever a vacancy became available, could you consider me?’ Harry got on the phone first. He showed that faith in me. He was also on the phone straight away after the Wolves game. He wants us to do well.
“The atmosphere will be electric. There will be a bit of spice I am sure. What we have got to remember is what has been achieved over the last two or three years at this football club. It has been unprecedented. There is only one fellow behind that and that is his legacy to us.”
