Keane keeps the armband

TOTTENHAM’S Robbie Keane has retained the captaincy at White Hart Lane despite having organised the Christmas party to Dublin that so infuriated manager Harry Redknapp.

Keane’s leadership had been put under scrutiny as a result but the captaincy was not thought to be an issue during Redknapp’s meeting as the players involved escaped formal sanction for travelling to Dublin for an unauthorised Christmas party last week.

The players accepted they had effectively deceived Redknapp and apologised for their conduct, though it is understood they pointed out that, technically, they had not breached the terms of their contracts and were not eligible to be fined.

Redknapp said last week that the 16 first-team players involved would be “dealt with severely”. But he mellowed his stance and has agreed for them to make donations, believed to total €300,000, to a charity, most likely the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, a community project designed to improve the life of children and young people.

Redknapp called together the players who visited Ireland in the dressing rooms at the club’s Chigwell training base before the morning session yesterday and expressed his disappointment that they had gone against his wishes by holding a team Christmas celebration.

The players had told him they were travelling to the Irish capital for a golfing break but, instead, spent the afternoon in a pub before moving on to a Dublin nightclub. They returned just 72 hours before the 1-0 defeat by Wolves.

Redknapp’s mood may have improved given that Spurs have taken six points since that Wolves defeat – with victories against Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers – but he could not disguise his embarrassment having stated publicly that his squad would “never take the liberty” of holding a party without his permission prior to discovering his players had done precisely that 48 hours earlier.

Meanwhile, Redknapp faces the prospect of managing Tottenham with criminal proceedings hanging over him for at least another 12 months after it emerged there is a strong possibility that his trial in relation to allegations that he cheated the public revenue will not get under way until 2011.

Redknapp is expected to report to a police station within the next fortnight after his solicitors, BCL Burton Copeland, confirmed that HM Revenue and Customs has signalled its intention to bring charges. The 62-year-old will then appear at a magistrates court but sources close to the investigation believe it could be a further year before the case is heard at crown court because of the complex nature of this inquiry.

Redknapp’s pending charge relates to allegations of unpaid tax on an offshore payment he received from the former Portsmouth chairman, Milan Mandaric, during his time as the manager at Fratton Park.