English FA Premierhsip/Wigan 1-2 Portsmouth: Harry Houdini, the legendary escapologist and master of the illusion, once made a 10,000lb elephant "disappear" on the sound of a pistol shot.
Portsmouth fans, having deliriously applauded the escape in the JJB stadium, may soon begin to wonder if their own Harry, in conjunction with the chairman Milan Mandaric and the joint owner Alexandre Gaydamak, can ultimately transform the club and secure its long-term Premiership status or whether all is a trick of the light, accompanied by the sound of Redknapp blowing his own trumpet.
"I'm pleased for myself. I don't want to sit here and thank everybody else," said Redknapp, who is as near to a Dickensian caricature as football has in these days of rigid conformity. It is impossible not to laugh along with him but difficult also not to be deeply wary. All is wheels within wheels and deals within deals. However, it has been a marvellous story, with Portsmouth taking 20 points from their last nine matches to ensure safety.
Redknapp suggested on Saturday this would be his last job in football. Whereas he always felt "a million pairs of eyes looking at you ready to tell somebody what was going on" at Southampton, he immediately felt "comfortable" on his return to Fratton Park, even though there were many supporters not in the least pleased to see him return after his south coast treachery.
Most supposed Mandaric's volte face had come too late and the relegation horse had bolted but, having beaten Manchester City in early March with the latest of late goals from Pedro Mendes, the momentum shifted radically to leave the midlands of England with nothing more than a Premiership Villa and no guarantee of any sun next season.
Man of the hour was the self-effacing Benjani Mwaruwari, who finally broke his goal-scoring duck, 15 matches after his £4million move from Auxerre. "I am very, very thrilled for Benjani because we all wanted him to score. The poor guy has been working so hard and wanted so badly to do it," said Mandaric. Like the rest of the players, the Zimbabwean striker was unstinting in his praise for Redknapp. He said: "Even when I was down and the fans were worrying why he had brought me to Portsmouth, he kept saying he knew I would do it."
The celebrations were not without their perversity. It sometimes feels football's great escapes are more highly valued than solid achievements, and it was to Redknapp's credit that he spoke of Wigan's Paul Jewell as being the undoubted "manager of the year in my eyes".
The home fans' feeling of anticlimax was inevitable, particularly as they could have been four or five goals clear at half-time, instead of Henri Camara's single strike, plus a patently wrongly disallowed goal. Benjani's equaliser and Matthew Taylor's late penalty proved enough for Pompey.
Redknapp is set to negotiate a new contract although what happens next week or next month, let alone next season, at Fratton Park is no easier to fathom than Houdini's disappearing elephant.
Guardian Service
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