There was an excellent article in the Guardian this weekend about the plight of Birmingham City, who have just been deducted 9 points for breaching FFP rules. This stemmed back to Harry Redknapp's disastrous short term spell as their manager. During Redknapp's six months as Birmingham manager, he signed 14 players at a cost of £23.75m. The club lost over £48m that season. Redknapp claimed on Friday that many of the signings "had nothing to do with him" , and that players were brought in over his head. Redknapp never mentioned this at the time? Challenged on some of his other disastrous signings at Brum, Redknapp reverted to his now familiar "they were just my recommendations, the club did not have to sign them did they?". Redknapp critics have pointed out that Birmingham City are the third club that Redknapp's management has left in dire financial straits. His spending spree at Portsmouth in 2008 is legendary, and nearly led to the club folding. Players like Jermaine Defoe were paid £100,000 a week at a club with a dilapidated stadium and 20,000 attendances. At QPR Redknapp's management had an equally disastrous effect. He arrived and claimed the players had "pulled the owner's pants down"...and that those days were over. He then went on to do the same, breaking their transfer record twice in a week on Loic Remy and then Chris Samba, a 28 year old signed on a four and half year deal worth £20m QPR were getting 18,000 crowds at the time, and were relegated. Despite winning the FA Cup under him, I know Pompey fans who still feel very bitter towards Harry Redknapp and the damage he has done. I would say his carefully crafted media image is nothing more than a myth?
In his other incarnation as a property developer Onest Arry is trying to push through a gentrification scheme in Bournemouth which will make 30+ people homeless. Well that was the state of play last year, I haven't followed it up recently, but it fits uneasily with his jellied eels cuddly cockney media image.
Many of the people who would be made homeless by Onest Arry's gentrification scheme are ex-servicemen. It was all in Private Eye, the most accurate publication on the market. An example- in last week's edition it investigated the most recent claims by a man who said he'd been molested by Sir Edward Heath on his yacht as a boy. Eye checked the man's school dates, investigated Heath's diary at that time and found the accusations could not have possibly been true. Ian Hislop has transformed The Eye since the days of Richard Ingrams, who never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Onest Arry advertising online betting on telly. What a card. Also claimed recently he eats jellied eels on Christmas day.
I was wrong to say Harry Redknapp is a character. If he is putting ex-servicemen out of their homes he is a very bad man.
