Sport

Redknapp denies claims

HARRY REDKNAPP was last night forced to deny rumours that he was ready to abandon Tottenham Hotspur seven games into the north…

MIKEY STAFFORD
Sat Oct 03 2009 - 01:00

HARRY REDKNAPP was last night forced to deny rumours that he was ready to abandon Tottenham Hotspur seven games into the north London club’s best start to a league season in half a century. A flurry of bets on him becoming the first managerial casualty of the season saw the odds narrow to evens with a number of bookmakers, prompting Redknapp to declare how happy he is at White Hart Lane.

“I don’t know what it is all about, I just don’t understand it. Crazy rumours. It doesn’t affect me at all. It’s just a load of rubbish,” said Redknapp. “I couldn’t be happier. I get on very well with the chairman. I love it here, I think I’ve created a great atmosphere at the training ground, with everybody.”

On Thursday night Redknapp, who takes high-flying Spurs to Bolton this afternoon, was 66 to 1 with Sky Bet to be the first manager out of a job but following a number of bets, believed to be no more than £100 (€109), he had narrowed drastically to become the favourite.

Redknapp dismissed it as a publicity stunt on behalf of the bookmakers. “Someone has rung up and tried to put £50 on me because they’ve heard some silly rumour, so the bookies have gone and made a big publicity thing of it,” he said. “There is no problem, it is an absolute load of old tosh, a bit like kissing the badge.”

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Tottenham are fourth in the table, behind Liverpool on goal difference, having won five and scoring 17 goals in the process.

The bets follow on from recent rumours that Redknapp could be charged as part of a joint investigation by the City of London police and HMRC (Revenue and Customs) into alleged corruption in football. Redknapp, who remains on police bail, has always denied any wrongdoing.

Redknapp said that if he was going to leave Tottenham he would do so quickly, as when he controversially and suddenly left Southampton to return to Portsmouth in 2005.

“I do leave, I always just walk off and go. That’s how I am,” said the 62-year-old. “I’d go in one day and say, ‘I’m off’. It’s always likely I could do that. But I’m not going to do that because I love it here.”