I’m going nowhere, says Harry Redknapp after rush of bets on him to leave Spurs

Tom Collomosse
2 Oct 2009

Harry Redknapp has rubbished growing speculation that he was on the brink of leaving Tottenham after a flurry of bets were placed on his imminent departure.

The odds on Redknapp leaving White Hart Lane were slashed dramatically from 40-1 yesterday, with some online betting exchanges now offering 5-4 and others evens.

But Redknapp — who has guided Spurs to fourth in the Premier League after five wins from their opening seven matches — appeared to have no worries about his job this afternoon.

“Is that right?” he said, when it was put to him that the odds on his departure had been cut so drastically.

“I'm leaving for Bolton this afternoon — that's the only place I'm leaving for today.

“I'm definitely not leaving anywhere, that's absolute nonsense, absoluterubbish. I couldn't be happier than I am here, and there is no chance of
that happening. They are crazy rumours.”

There had even been speculation that Redknapp was contemplating a return to Portsmouth if new investment was forthcoming, but the Spurs boss was equally dismissive of such talk.

He said: “I left Portsmouth a year ago. Hopefully what is happening there will be sorted out, but the idea I am going back there is absolute nonsense. Not a chance. All I hope is that there is money put into Portsmouth, and that the club will be fine. That's all I'm hoping for.”

Graham Sharpe, of bookmakersWilliam Hill, said the betting patterns were “extraordinary”.

He added: “Tottenham have had the best start to the season for many years so why would anyone put a pound on him being the next manager to go? He was at 40-1 with us yesterday and we started to see a few bets coming in. We brought the price down to 20-1 this morning and now it is down to evens. I would say that this could be described as extraordinary betting patterns and there is now a significant amount of money at stake.”

Another firm, Paddy Power, had Redknapp at 50-1 to leave the club last night but those odds have been also been slashed.

Spokesman Darren Haines said: “There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this one and frankly it has left us baffled. But no matter what price we cut
Redknapp to, punters keep backing him.”

It remains to be seen whether the speculation surrounding Redknapp will unsettle his team, who bounced back from defeats by Manchester United and Chelsea to thrash Burnley last Saturday and move to within three points of Sir Alex Ferguson's League leaders.

Redknapp is hopeful that striker Jermain Defoe will be fit to take his place in the starting XI, despite dislocating fingers during the 5-0 win over Burnley last weekend.

The striker also damaged his hand during the incident, but trained today wearing a special cast that Spurs trust will enable him to feature against Bolton at The Reebok Stadium.

Michael Dawson could also make his first League start of the season after recovering from Achilles problems, but his fellow central defenders Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate remain
sidelined along with playmaker Luka Modric.