Harry slams 'tapping up' rules

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp does not believe there is any point in overhauling rules on 'tapping up'. Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has been quoted as suggesting illegal approaches are rife, while there are other claims of his club being unhappy with Spurs signing Peter Crouch when others were willing to pay more money for the striker. Redknapp maintains that players have always known which clubs are interested in signing them because of the role agents play in the game. And he has defended the capture of Crouch by using Darren Bent as an example of how Spurs also missed out on a possible better deal this summer. "Every club lets a player know that they're interested and anyone who says they don't is telling lies," he said. "It's not a case of tapping a player up, it's a case of the agent ringing up and asking if you're interested. "The message gets back to the player that the club is interested and then he makes up his mind where he wants to go. "We had a deal for Darren Bent with Stoke for £15million but Darren wanted to go to Sunderland so what can you do? We were willing to pay £10million for Peter and Sunderland were willing to pay £12million but Peter didn't want to go to Sunderland. "It happens in every transfer. "There was no tapping up or anything else. They've all got agents, the agents talk to the people at the football club and he (Crouch) ended up going to Tottenham." Redknapp does not feel it would make much difference to scrap the rules on approaching players who have a contract at another club. "It wouldn't make any difference, really," he said. "You're not going to get players out of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal. "You're only going to be dealing in the same market, really."

Source: SKY_Sports