Master of modern management

English Premier League/Harry Redknapp profile: Dominic Fifieldon the Portsmouth manager who has proved himself to be more than just a shrewd wheeler-dealer in the transfer market

Harry Redknapp used to have a reputation. He was an East End wheeler-dealer, a market trader of a manager who could spot a bargain from a continent away or convince a gnarled old pro to lace up his boots for one final, glorious hurrah. None of that has become passe and the old qualities remain but, these days, his stock has risen. Portsmouth have muscled in among the established order at the top of the Premier League. Redknapp, a master of modern management, might just be thinking he is finally up where he belongs.

There is a sense that the veteran of more than 1,000 games in charge at Bournemouth, West Ham United, Southampton and Portsmouth has had to wait for the recognition he deserves. It is as if "Arry" is taken for granted, a figure who is part of the Premier League landscape but someone who would only truly be missed once he's gone.

His almost parodic barrow-boy delivery sits uneasily amid the gruff Glaswegian or heavy French, Spanish and, until recently, Portuguese drawl through which the world has grown used to hearing about the title race.

Others would point out 24 years directing from the dugout have yielded only a Third Division championship with the Cherries, an Intertoto Cup with West Ham, and a First Division (now Championship) crown at Portsmouth as tangible reward.

Yet victory over Manchester City at Fratton Park tomorrow would ensure Pompey sit in a Champions League qualification place until the last week of November at the very least.

The campaign's finale may still be some way off, with no one even hinting at the possibility of securing a first league championship since 1950, but the progress made should be deemed remarkable at a club that, only a few years ago, was more used to labouring at the wrong end of the second tier.

Only once have the elite quartet of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool been infiltrated in the past four years, by Everton in 2005. City, Blackburn and Portsmouth harbour hopes of doing just that this season in what promises to be a more competitive division.

While Sven-Goran Eriksson and Mark Hughes are relative newcomers to English club management, and breaths of fresh air, Redknapp is merely maintaining long-standing excellence. His top-flight record may not be littered with trophies but, given comparable resources, he would surely compare favourably with the best.

At West Ham he never finished lower than 15th place, reaching fifth in 1999, the club's second-best placing ever. Portsmouth had enjoyed one season in the top flight since 1959 when he returned them there in 2003. Twice since he has inspired remarkable late runs to hoist them clear of trouble, with last term's ninth-place finish the club's best in 51 years.

Sandwiched in between was an acrimonious split with his then chairman, Milan Mandaric, and a relegation with Southampton, although he revived the Saints from a near hopeless position to chisel out a chance of survival going into the final day of the 2004-'05 campaign. Even so it is a measure of how he is appreciated in his second coming at Fratton Park that Mandaric, reconciled and now seeking a new manager to take charge at Leicester City, has admitted he is looking for "another Harry Redknapp to stay with me and get the job done".

"Look at his record and he deserves a shot at one of the big clubs and, to be honest, if he put himself up for a job like that I'm sure he'd get it," said Kevin Bond, Bournemouth's manager but formerly Redknapp's first-team coach at Pompey. "If he'd wanted the Tottenham job, he would have got it.

"People understand now what a good manager he is and the only person to prevent him getting it would be Harry himself. He's very happy living on the south coast, he's done a fantastic job getting Pompey into the top six and things are going swimmingly. If he took a job elsewhere, he would have to uproot his life and I'm not sure he really wants to do that."

At 60, Redknapp is as settled as he has ever been. He recently signed a new contract worth €2.9 million a year to take him to 2011.

"If you look at the teams at the top of the league, the managers are vastly experienced," said West Ham manager Alan Curbishley. "Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson, Rafael Benitez, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Harry are all of a certain age. In Italy, the average age of the managers is about 54, and experience is counting at the top of the Premier League as well. What Harry has managed to achieve this season already is fantastic, particularly when you consider they've already faced the top four teams, got through those games, and are still up there."

"I don't think there is a better manager in the country," offered Bond. "His ability to spot a player and to handle that player is second to none. He has that wheeler-dealer reputation, but that is only one element of what makes him such a good manager. He identifies a player and agrees a deal which is on the best possible terms for the club.

"But he's also very tactically astute, far more than he's ever been given credit for, and his man-management is exceptional. In the Premier League now you have dressingrooms full of millionaires with big egos, and you have to be able to handle people like that, especially if they're not playing every week. Harry manages that and gets the best out of the players he has."

Never before has Redknapp benefited from financial backing as under Alexandre Gaydamak. Some €43 million was spent last summer to lure, among others, David Nugent (€8.6m), Pape Bouba Diop (€4.3m), Sulley Muntari (€10.3m), Glen Johnson (€5.7m) and John Utaka (€10.3m) to the south coast, with the wage bill stretched to accommodate experienced free-transfer signings such as Hermann Hreidarsson and Sylvain Distin.

"Harry picks up experienced players who have played in the Premier League - Hreidarsson, Sol Campbell, David James - to give his side a backbone and then adds younger, high-energy, skilful players from abroad," said Newcastle's Sam Allardyce. "As a manager, he has to be one of the best in this country."

Arguably the biggest threat to his hopes of a top-six finish this season will be the impact of the African Cup of Nations in the new year, which could rob Portsmouth of key personnel. Inevitably, as this supremely athletic and attack-minded team marauds through the division expectation will swell, although they boast rare depth to their squad. Nugent has only played a bit-part role to date, while the likes of Pedro Mendes, Lauren, Matt Taylor and Kanu have looked on from the bench.

January provides another window in which Redknapp can, and no doubt will, recruit. The man described by his peers as "one of the great survivors" could be scaling new heights.