HARRY REDKNAPP has revealed the full extent of the abuse he received from a minority of Portsmouth fans last October, in the wake of his sudden and surprise departure for Tottenham Hotspur.

The manager, who returns for the first time to Fratton Park in the Premier League today, said that “sickos” had obtained his telephone number and tormented him with crank calls.

“People say, ‘I hope you get cancer’ and ‘I hope you turn your car over and kill your wife’,” Redknapp said. “They are not human beings. They need help as they can’t be right, can they? It hurt, yes.”

Redknapp led Portsmouth to the FA Cup in 2008 but the success came at a price. Portsmouth were guilty of overstretching themselves and, despite a fire sale of players, they have only just avoided financial meltdown and remain €55 million in debt.

“Everybody goes on about Pompey being in debt but that’s nothing to do with me,” added Redknapp. “It’s to do with the people who handle the finances. If you can’t afford a player, they shouldn’t buy him. I’ll say to Daniel Levy (the Tottenham chairman), ‘Can we afford Roque Santa Cruz in the summer?’ and he’ll say, ‘I’ve checked him out, his wages are too high for us’. Okay, fine. That’s how football works.

“We’re only football coaches, we pick the players but we have no input into wages or negotiations.”

Redknapp predicted Portsmouth would avoid relegation this season and he feels they are now in safer hands with Ali al-Faraj than they were under Sulaiman al-Fahim. “When you’ve got a rich Russian owner (Sacha Gaydamak), the fans think you’ve won the pools, but then he doesn’t want to finance it any more,” Redknapp said. “Then they bring in Al-whatever-his-name, who is eating hamburgers with a Pompey shirt on, and it didn’t look quite right. Hopefully now Peter Storrie has found the right owners.”

Guardian Service