I'll win the Cup for my wife, says emotional Redknapp

Then, last month, Sandra's twin sister Pat Lampard, mother of Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard, died suddenly from pneumonia at the age of 58.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp (left) and Cardiff boss Dave Jones

"I'd like to finish on a high note, as much for my wife as for myself," said Redknapp ahead of Pompey's Wembley showpiece against Cardiff.

"She will be delighted if I lift that Cup. I've been fortunate to be in the game and to manage at this level.

"I don't feel I deserve anything more. I get well rewarded anyway. But getting to the Cup Final is lovely. It is an honour to lead a team out at Wembley.

"It's a special occasion and it's special for my family. There will be a lump in the throat when they sing Abide With Me. It is an emotional time.

"My Dad would've enjoyed it, he was football mad. If there was a game over the park, he'd go to watch it. All the grandchildren will be there in Pompey shirts, six of them. I'm looking forward to that."

Plotting to ruin the Redknapp party is Cardiff boss Dave Jones, who is trying to take the FA Cup to Wales for the first time since the Bluebirds won it in 1927.

Jones said: "Harry's team are expected to win. They are the Barclays Premier League club with the highly-paid players.

"We are the underdogs but we'll go there with a determination and pride. I'd never put a side out I didn't think were going to win. I'll expect us to do our best. If we do that, we've a good chance of winning."

West Ham were the last team from outside the top flight to win the trophy when they beat Arsenal 1-0 in 1980, but Cardiff started to believe when they won 2-0 at Middlesbrough in the quarter-final.

Jones said: "Chelsea had gone out the night before and I thought that would have been Middlesbrough's incentive.

"Instead, it inspired my players. The pressure was on Boro because they were expected to win. Maybe the same will happen at Wembley."

Today's occasion is also a tribute to Jones and the way he has rebuilt his career in eight years since he faced child abuse charges in court.

The case was thrown out within days and the judge said it should never had reached trial but Jones still lost his job as Southampton manager.

Redknapp said: "A lot of people like Dave and what he's gone through is horrendous. He deserves to get to the final.

"I know him very well and I like him a lot. He's a great man, a proper nice man. What he went through, no one deserves."

Jones or Redknapp — neither has reached a major final as player or manager — will be the first English boss to lift the trophy since Everton's Joe Royle in 1995 and the winners qualify for the UEFA Cup.

The Welsh and British national anthems will be played and supporters have been encouraged to enjoy the day and respect its traditions.

Cardiff director Steve Borley said: "The English FA have paid us enormous respect by allowing us to sing our anthem at the home of English football and to allow us to represent them in Europe if we win.

"We should return their compliment with due respect."

Redknapp wants fans to applaud their players at the end, unlike Manchester United fans who emptied the stadium after losing to Chelsea last year.

"They couldn't bear to see the other team lift the Cup, which I found unbelievable," said Redknapp.

"When I grew up watching the final, the winning team would go round the pitch, the losing team would go round and wave to their fans, their socks around their ankles and all distraught."

Portsmouth will wear an allblue kit, the colours the club wore when they last won the FA Cup in 1939. Cardiff are in black, the colour they wore in the quarter and semi-finals and they will be cheered on by Chasetown, the BGB Midland Division team they knocked out in the third round.

"The whole of Chasetown will be supporting Cardiff," said manager Charlie Blakemore, who will be at Wembley today.

"There was a real feeling of camaraderie generated by our tie. What pleased us most was the respect that they showed. Our facilities aren't up to Championship standards but they never looked down on us."

Cardiff players will receive an £8,000-per-man bonus if they win compared to Portsmouth's £25,000-per-man. A medal, though, takes priority and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, a runner-up with Chelsea in 2002, relishes another chance.

"It means a hell of a lot and a little bit more because it's Cardiff and nobody expected us to go that far," said the 36-year-old Dutchman.

"We deserve it and we all believe that we have a chance of winning it."

Hasselbaink is near the end of a one-year deal but there is an option for another 12 months and he has no plans to retire. "Win or lose I'm not retiring," he confirmed.