Harry Redknapp begins his 28th season in football management on Sunday, when Tottenham take on Liverpool at White Hart Lane. He also celebrates his 63rd birthday next March but has no thoughts of retirement.

What else would he do? He loves to take his dogs for walks along the beach near his Poole home but you can't do that all day and, anyway, he would only get under his wife Sandra's feet.

No — Redknapp is as deeply in love with football as he ever was and, with a quality squad at Spurs, is relishing the months ahead.

The kid from Poplar, east London, has come a long way since that first day as a caretaker manager, at Bournemouth, back in December 1982.

On a frozen pitch at Lincoln, wearing boots with long nylon studs because that's all the club had, the Bournemouth players spent most of the match doing passable impressions of Bambi on ice as they suffered a 9-0 defeat.

Redknapp can laugh about it now. He said: “We only had 12 footballs, so if someone kicked one over the fence we had the young players out all afternoon until they found it.

“Nowadays the players smash the footballs all over the place and don't give a monkeys.

“The game has changed out of all recognition since those days. Then you had responsibility for almost everything that happened at the club.

“Now you don't get involved in transfers. At least I have control of the players I want, which isn't always the case at some clubs, but that's the end of my involvement until it either happens or doesn't.

“That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Instead of thinking of a thousand things every day, you can clear your mind and focus on the squad.”

And with his squad in clearly mind, Redknapp believes Spurs fans can look forward to a successful season.

“The players haven't changed much since those early days,” he said. “They're a lot richer but they still basically the same, they all just want to play football.

“This is a good club, good set-up, training ground, good players, some very good. Most clubs would love the strikers that we have here — four top-quality players in Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

“And in Luka Modric, we have a player who has enough quality to play in any team in the world — he's that good.”

Redknapp has all but finished his summer shopping. “Maybe one more player who wouldn't cost the earth, just to balance the squad, but it's not certain yet,” he added.

Redknapp, though, has to manage expectation. “I was watching Ossie Ardiles on the TV the other night,” he said. “He was one of the best players ever at Tottenham but he was talking about trying to avoid relegation for a time when he was here.
“People see this as a big club who have a record of winning things but look back and it's not really been like that in recent years.

“Of course, we're optimistic of doing well this year but it will be tough. The top four will be back there again, Aston Villa will be knocking on the door while I firmly believe Manchester City won't be far away.”

At the other end, Redknapp's former club Portsmouth have already been tipped by some as candidates for relegation.

“It's going to be tough for them,” said Redknapp. “I had some good times there, some successful times but when the Spurs job came up, Peter Storrie, who was chief executive at Fratton Park, said to me: I don't want to lose you Harry but, as a friend, my advice is that you have to take the Spurs job'.”

Just which team, though, does Redknapp believe will go on to collect the Premier League trophy in nine months' time? “It has to be Chelsea for me,” he said. “Manchester United, minus Ronaldo, will go close while Liverpool . . . I don't think so, not quite.

“Both sides have lost big players while Chelsea have managed to keep theirs despite all the rumours about John Terry.”

With not far of three decades in management under his belt, though, what is left in the game for Redknapp to do, what ambitions remain ahead of the new season?

“It's a difficult one because, let's face it, we're not going to win the Premier League, are we?,” he said. “I've won the FA Cup with Portsmouth but what would give me a lot of pleasure is taking Tottenham into the Champions League. That would be a real achievement for these players.”

First up, though, as Redknapp and his Spurs players strive to achieve that considerable ambition, is Liverpool on Sunday.

The enthusiasm and anticipation bubbles over as he looks towards that opening match of his 28th management season.

“A difficult one? Sure,” he said, with a little chuckle. “We're good at home though, very good.
“I'm looking forward to it.”