HARRY REDKNAPP EXCLUSIVE

THE smile froze on Harry Redknapp’s face: I’d just told him many people thought of him as a cross between Mike Bassett and Arthur Daley.

A naïve cliché maybe but, for once, the ebullient Spurs boss was momentarily lost for words.

A look of shock, even hurt, crossed his face but Harry quickly pulled himself together.

“Yeah, I see what you mean.” he said. “It’s like when I come out and say it doesn’t matter how much pasta players eat if they can’t pass. And leave it at that.

“That’s right about the passing of course but there is a lot more to me as a coach than just telling the players to go out and play.

“I know I have this image as a wheeler and dealer. I’ve done plenty of that because I’ve had to.

“I’ve always taken over teams who are struggling toward the bottom of the league and you need to change things.

“And let’s be honest, I wouldn’t have got this job at Tottenham if they hadn’t been bottom of the league, would I?

“So at the moment I’ve got to be buying and selling to move this club forward.

“I back myself to do a decent job on that front because over the past few years the club have wasted an awful lot of money.

“But that’s not what I am all about. First and foremost I am a coach. I got my badge when I was 21 and I love coaching.”

This evening Redknapp is guest of honour at the Football Writers’ Association tribute dinner — proof that plenty in the media recognise his achievements even if last season’s FA Cup triumph with Portsmouth was his first major trophy.

1994 - Harry Redknapp takes charge at West Ham

As the don of all bosses, Sir Alex Ferguson, would agree, silverware is not the only gauge of success.

For most clubs it’s survival or promotion. Redknapp is the guv'nor on that front.

2003 - Harry Redknapp celebrates his Division One (Championship) triumph with Portsmouth

As he points out: “I don’t stay in the game for 28 years as coach and manager if I’m not doing something right, do I?

“I have worked with blokes who are supposed to be fantastic coaches, but I look at them and wonder what I’m meant to be seeing.

“Without wishing to blow my own trumpet they’re not better than me.

“Take Martin O’Neill. What a great job he’s done with Villa. But I’m much more of a coach than Martin is.

“Martin manages like Cloughie — look how great he was — but it’s different to the way I do it.

“Fergie’s not a coach in the way I am a coach but he is the world’s greatest manager.”

Redknapp then fondly traces his coaching roots back to his days as a player at West Ham.

“Ron Greenwood was so far in front of everyone else that even now most things people do in training I was doing under Ron 45 years ago.

“When I was 15 I’d just joined West Ham, having trained with Tottenham since I was 11. For pre-season most clubs sent their kids up to Lilleshall for some extra work.

2005 - Harry Redknapp celebrates one of the few bright moments during his year at Southampton with son Jamie

“I brought a practice game to a halt when I got the ball and urged my own full-back to go around me. The coaches didn’t know what I was up to.”

At this point Redknapp cuts an animated figure as he moves two teacups around his desk.

“It might sound a bit corny now but no one had heard of overlapping full-backs then.

“Ron invented attacking full-backs. The near-post cross — so many things. He had a real impact on the game.

“So when people talk to me about coaching I struggle to learn anything new from many so-called top coaches because I worked under one who was from another planet.”

Man-management and spotting a bargain or misfit have been major assets for Redknapp too, though.

When asked about his best buys he goes back to his Bournemouth days and cites Colin Clarke, signed for £20,000 from Tranmere then sold on a season later to Southampton for £500,000.

The worst? Redknapp sighs. “Hands up, Marco Boogers at West Ham. He was the first player I signed from a video — and the last.”

2008 - Harry Redknapp celebrates winning the FA Cup in his second spell at Portsmouth

And one that got away? “I used to drive miles all over the country to find players for Bournemouth. I found this kid at Runcorn called Ian Woan.

“Before the deal was finalised Brian Clough saw on Teletext we were about to sign the lad. He told his staff: ‘Redknapp knows the non-league — who is this Woan?’

“No one knew so Cloughie got on to the Runcorn manager, discovered that although a deal had been agreed the kid hadn’t signed.

“He doubled our £25,000 bid on the spot and signed him without ever seeing him play. Woan turned out to be a good player for Forest.”

Part of the Redknapp image is true. He is street-wise. It’s an asset.

It comes from a tough upbringing in East London where a summer holiday was five weeks sleeping on straw and getting up at 5am hop-picking in Kent.

Football was in the blood thanks to his docker father taking Redknapp to watch Arsenal.

Harry remembers: “To this day the best game I ever saw was the last played by the Busby Babes, 5-4 at Highbury.”

The work ethic, romance and now rich pickings are not the only things that keep driving him on. So does ambition.

“My first task is to make sure Spurs stay up, maybe win one of the cups then push on next season and get this club back to where it wants to be.”

That is pushing for Champions League football — and even a tilt at the title. But Redknapp, 61, does not necessarily see it as his last job.

“Do I still want to manage England? Yeah, for sure. I think England can still happen. It’s not impossible. Who knows? I’ve met Capello, I liked him and what he’s doing.

“He has a great record but Italians do change jobs. They don’t stay long-term. So you never know.”

And Harry means it.