Source: Daily_Mail
Redknapp insists he left Pompey for Spurs because he feared the sack
Harry Redknapp offered no apology for leaving Portsmouth a year ago, saying he jumped before he was pushed.
The Tottenham Hotspur boss said he knew former owner Sacha Gaydamak was trying to sell the club and thought a new man would look to bring in his own personnel.
Redknapp said: 'I left because I knew what was going on with the owner. All the talk was he was just desperate to get out.
'When people sell football clubs, the new owners come in and they bring their own people in.
'When Sacha Gaydamak took over from Milan Mandaric, I'd kept them up that year, but I knew, because I'd been told by the right people, that he really wanted to replace me, he wanted to bring his own people in, but I was too strong that he couldn't move me because of what I'd done.
'So, am I supposed to sit there and wait for him to sell the club and an Arab comes in, or somebody from China, or Japan, or wherever owners come from these days, or Russia? This opportunity came, to manage a great club, and I thought I' d done what I could do there.
'I left them with a great team of players, players worth fortunes, absolute fortunes, that they sold for fantastic value.
'So I left them and decided to come here and I loved every minute of here. I loved my time at Portsmouth and I loved my time at Tottenham.'
Redknapp rubbished suggestions he will be targeted by Portsmouth supporters on Saturday when he takes his Tottenham side to Fratton Park for the first time since leaving the club.
'They're not a bunch of lunatics,' he said. 'I think they're being labeled as a bunch of nutters down there, which they're not. They're nice people.
'You're always going to get some people who will shout abuse, but it shows you what a good job I must've done because they were so upset that I left. Normally they're glad to get rid of you when you leave, but that didn't happen in our case.
'I went back there when they were bottom of the Championship first year. When I left there they were sixth in the league and I had a fall out with their owner, I went back and they were bottom of the League with, what I think, was the worst team in the Premier League.
'That would be my opinion of the team I took over, so whoever assembled that lot, God only knows, but I managed to bring a couple in and we stayed up that year.
'If they want to shout, I'm not bothered. It doesn't bother me. I won't lose any sleep over it. I'll only lose sleep if we get beat.'
Redknapp also backed former Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch, who followed his boss to Tottenham in the summer, to cement a place in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad after his two goals against Belarus in England's 3-0 win on Wednesday.
The Spurs boss said: 'I heard Mr Capello say on the radio the other day that Crouchy gives you a different option.
'He can start, he can come on and when he comes off the bench, if a game's tight, or you can't pass your way through, he gives you that option to go longer, play off him and take you further up the pitch.
'He's something completely different that the foreign teams can't cope with. I think he's a must to have in your squad.'
