The former Tottenham Hotspur boss has been speaking about his time at the club and his phone calls with the former chairman and owner
Harry Redknapp believes a couple of phone calls from Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis about Robbie Keane ushered him towards his sacking at Tottenham.
Redknapp spent four years at Spurs with one of the best squads in recent memory with players such as Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart, Ledley King, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Jermain Defoe and Keane. Amid links to the England job in his final year at the helm, with Redknapp admitting at the time that he would have left if offered the role, and declining results, he was sacked by Tottenham in June 2012 with a year remaining on his contract.
Now 79, Redknapp believes a couple of phone calls from ex-chairman Levy and the club's former owner Lewis about Keane made him realise the end might be coming.
"We were second in the league, going great. I'd never met Joe Lewis. Joe Lewis owns Tottenham. He was the boss. Daniel, you know, had all the day-to-day stuff. But Joe was the governor, and I'd never met Joe. Then I get a phone call on the way to Stansted Airport on a Friday," Redknapp told OLBG’s ‘The Jeff Stelling Show’, which is out at the end of October.
"Daniel rings me. He never rang me on a Friday, never interfered. Daniel was good as gold with me. I have to be truthful. I never had a problem with Daniel Levy. I don't really speak to him now, but I have to be honest, he was fine with me, good with me. But I'm driving to Stansted Airport before a trip to Old Trafford, and we're second in the league, playing fantastic.
"Daniel rings me. "Harry, who are you going to play up front tomorrow?" We had a few injuries. I said, "Robbie Keane." He said, "Robbie Keane?" I said, "Yeah. Why?" He said, "Oh, I'm just a bit surprised. Did you not think to ask Rafa van der Vaart who he wants to play with?" I said, "What's it got to do with Rafa van der Vaart, Daniel? I pick the team, not Rafa." "Well, I thought it might be interesting." "No, not really. I'm not interested. I'm playing Robbie."
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He continued: "So I get to the hotel that night in Manchester. My phone goes. It's Ivana, Joe Lewis's secretary. "Hello, Ivana." "Joe wants to speak to you." "Yeah, sure." "Hello, Harry boy, how you doing, son?" "Yeah, I'm all right, Joe." He said, "I love our forward line. Lennon, Pavlyuchenko, van der Vaart, Gareth Bale. Good forward line, Joe." He said, "That Robbie Keane's useless, right?" I said, "That's your opinion, Joe, innit."
"He said, "He don't even know the offside rule." I said, "I think he does, Joe. He's scored X amount of goals." He said, "I tell you what, if he plays tomorrow, I won't even watch the game on television." I said, "That's your choice, Joe." And I knew then, that was after Christmas, I thought, "I could be in trouble here."
"Obviously I played Robbie the next day and Daniel again said, "Why don't you ask Rafa who he wants to play with?" Same answer again. But I knew that if things didn't go right, the slightest slip, I was gone. I think Daniel was actually choked to see me go, if I'm truthful. I think he was probably fighting my corner. I'm not sure, but I certainly never had any problems with Daniel. Joe obviously had that issue with me playing Robbie Keane."
Tottenham are currently bottom of the Premier League table under Roberto De Zerbi after five matches this season but Redknapp believes the Italian and his squad will soon rise.
"I don't know. I'm saying top four, top five, top six for them this season. I do think they'll turn it round. I do think they'll come good. They've got to, with that group of players," said the former Portsmouth and West Ham boss. "But 17th, you know, incredible. Good managers, good players. There's obviously something not right. But I don't know what it is. And they've had the players in, you know.
"Last year, the year before, they were better than where they finished. They should have been doing better, for sure. They had enough good players to have been up there fighting for European places.
"And as I heard someone saying the other day, they've bought players who were not getting in the teams at their previous clubs. They're not exactly serial winners, are they? One or two of them have had relegations. And the ones already there weren't exactly setting the world alight either.
"So you'd still expect them to finish in the top six, and I'm still confident my bet will come good at the end of the year. But they better hurry up and turn it round."