Came in to Tottenham with a return to the more traditional manger's role after a number of years under a more European Head Coach set-up, but Harry Redknapp wanted total control of footballing matters at the club, with no Sporting Director involved in transfer dealings.
After a poor start to the 2008-09 season, Juande Ramos was sacked and Redknapp brought in from Portsmouth to save Tottenham who were bottom of the league at the time with two points from eight matches and the new boss moved Spurs away from the relegation zone and up into mid-table.
As a player, Harry started his career and spent most of it at Upton Park, playing for West Ham United, where he signed as a professional in 1964, after being a big star of the London Schools side. A flighty right winger, Redknapp was normally a provider as he stuck tight to the sideline and crossed a good ball for others to profit from. Scored his first goal for the club against Spurs in a 4-1 win in 1966.
Moved on to play for Bournemouth in the latter stages of his career, along with a three year spell in America playing for Seattle Sounders in 1976 after a brief flirtation with Brentford. While with the Sounders, he became assistant coach and on his return to England, he linked up with former team-mate Bobby Moore, manager of Oxford City, in the same capacity. His next post was on the coaching staff at Dean Court club and Bournemouth gave him his first chance in management in 1983, where his biggest scalp was Manchester United in the Third Round of the FA Cup in 1984. Had started his coaching career as assistant to manager David Webb and Don Megson, but was given the manager's post when Megson was sacked in early 1983. Harry saved the Cherries from relegation from the Third Division that season and in 1987 gained promotion as champions. Two seasons later, Bournemouth were relegated.
In 1990, Redknapp went to the World Cup in Italy and was involved in a car crash where Bournemouth's Managing Director Brian Tiler was killed along with four other people. It left Harry with life threatening injuries, but he pulled through and decided to take a break from the stresses of football management in 1991.
After a season out, he was given the chance to get back into football as assistant manager to Billy Bonds at his first club, West Ham United. As happened at Dean Court, he was appointed manager in 1994, when Bonds left following a disagreement with the directors of the club. Redknapp was at Upton Park at a time when a rich vein of young talent came through, including Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick and these players formed the core of his Hammers side. There was a question mark over the worth of some of his transfer dealings, with Marco Boogers (a Dutch striker who lived in a caravan) and Florian Raducioiu (who enjoyed shopping in the West End with his wife more than playing) as prime examples of money not well spent. He did have the knack of buying players towards the end of their career to have a last chance of the limelight and add experience to his young team.
Harry took West Ham to fifth place in 1999 and they qualified for the UEFA Cup through the InterToto Cup, but the long season took it's toll and the club finished low down in the league table and Redknapp left with one game of the season remaining in May 2001 in unhappy circumstances when he criticised the board to a fanzine for the sale of players behind his back and took up a position at Portsmouth - initially as Director of Football in 2001 and then as manager in 2002, who he took into the Premier League the following year.
Once more, there was a controversial end to his spell as manager at Fratton Park, resigning on 24th November 2004 as a Director of Football was brought in over his head and then when he moved across Hampshire to take charge of the club's biggest rivals Southampton. Could not keep them in the Premier League and when his old manager's seat at Pompey became available, he moved back despite a number of fans being resentful that he had left for the Saints. Took Portsmouth into the upper reaches of the Premier League and in 2008 won the FA Cup with the club, ensuring their first taste of European football.
When Spurs came to his door after Juande Ramos had been sacked,
A fourth place finish in 2009-10 saw Tottenham qualify for the Champions League for the first time. The campaign almost came unstuck at the first hurdle, with Spurs 0-3 down away at Young Boys of Berne, but they recovered to a 2-3 defeat and won the home leg convincingly to qualify for the group stage, beating Internazionale at home and going through to beat AC Milan in the first knock-out round before losing to Real Madrid in the quarter-final.
Arrested in 2007 as part of an investigation into corruption in football, Harry received an apology for the way his house was raided in part of the investigation, but still remains part of the enquiry being carried out by the City of London Police force. The case eventually came to court in early 2012, when Harry and former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric were cleared of all charges.
Tottenham's form following the court case went into a bit of a slump, when Redknapp was strongly touted as the man to take the vacant England manager's job after Fabio Capello suddenly left the post. Spurs, who had been third for much of the season, ended up fourth and missed out on a Champions League place because of the winners were allowed to defend their trophy despite finishing outside the top four.
Rumours of a troubled relationship with chairman Daniel Levy (despite Redknapp denying this publicly) caused rumours of his imminent departure in the summer of 2012 and in the early morning of 14th June, it was confirmed that the manger's contract had been terminated.
When Queens Park Rangers sacked Mark Hughes after a poor start to the 2012-13 season, they turned to Redknapp to try to change their fortunes on 24th November 2012. Unfortunately, Rangers were relegated at the end of that season, but Redknapp managed to get them back into the Premier League through the Championship play-offs in 2014.
Harry's son Jamie was a player at Liverpool and Tottenham and spent a short spell playing for him at Southampton before retiring. Another son is a football agent. His nephew is Frank Lampard, who played under him at West Ham and moved on to Chelsea.