Former Spurs man reveals £15m buy-out clause stopped him leaving

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has revealed the reason he didn’t get the England job back in 2012, and he thinks it’s all down to a clause in his contract with Spurs.

Redknapp was Spurs boss from October 2008 through to June 2014, taking charge of 198 games in that time. He won 98 of those matches (Transfermarkt), and proved to be one of the North London club’s most popular managers.

A no-nonsense manager with great man-management skills, a penchant for attacking football, and a tendency to nurture young, English talent, Redknapp always seemed destined for the England job at some point (DailyMail).

After a fairly lengthy spell with Spurs, it appeared that the time had finally come for Redknapp to step up and take the national team role in 2012. That didn’t happen though, and the FA eventually went for Roy Hodgson instead (SkySports).

A decade later, Redknapp has spoken about the situation in his new book When Harry Met Sandra (via the Daily Mail), and revealed why he thinks the FA overlooked him at the time.

He said: “I had this crazy clause in my contract which meant that if another club came after me – or in this case the FA – they would have to pay £5 million back to Portsmouth, the last club I was at before Spurs, plus all my wages for my time at Tottenham and whatever was left on my contract.

“It was looking like a £15m buy-out clause… I didn’t look at the finer print. I never have, and that is my fault and I should have done. It was a crazy clause, all in Tottenham’s favour, but what could I do?’

“I just think I would have worked out very expensive for the FA and Roy [Hodgson] would have been a cheaper option.

“I am not having a pop at Roy by the way, or running him down. I think he is a decent fella with great experience. I just think he was probably a bit more of the FA’s cup of tea than I ever was.

“I was kicking myself over that bloody contract. But, as I say, it wasn’t meant to be.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It is one of the great tragedies of the modern footballing era that Harry Redknapp never got to manage the England team. I think he would have been a great fit for it, and he would certainly have provided entertainment, at the very least.

It’s a shame to think that financial elements and contractual clauses may have got in the way of it all, and now we will never know what could have been.

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