Harry Redknapp has revealed that Tottenham’s former majority owner, Joe Lewis once tried to interfere with his team selection, and even suggested that the billionaire was involved in the decision to sack him.
Lewis founded the ENIC Group, which holds the majority stake in Tottenham but he gave up his share of the company when the Lewis Family Trust was restructured in October of last year (Telegraph).
The 86-year-old, who was based in the Bahamas, did not really get involved in the day-to-day running of Spurs, leaving that responsibility with that of chairman Daniel Levy.
However, Redknapp’s latest revelation suggests that Lewis was perhaps more involved than we thought, with the former Spurs manager suggesting that he may have played a part in his departure.
The 76-year-old revealed that he was caught off guard by the sacking as he always got along well with Levy.
Harry Redknapp on his Spurs sacking
Redknapp told ESPN: “Losing my job at Tottenham really came out of the blue. I didn’t really see it coming. On the one hand, it looks like I’ve got the England job and I’ve got a choice to make.
“By the end of the year, I had no choice. Didn’t get the England job, lost my job at Tottenham. It was a strange year but what can you do? You get on with it, don’t you?
“We had a Christmas do at the end of 2011 and Daniel got up and spoke about me. I remember [first-team coach] Joe Jordan saying to me ‘a lot of people say Daniel doesn’t show his feelings very much but it is amazing, he showed his feelings so much for you today.’
“He spoke in such glowing terms in what I’d done and a few months later I lost my job. It was quite strange.”
Redknapp revealed that Lewis once gave his opinion on who should be selected for a clash against Manchester United, which he decided to ignore.
The 76-year-old added: “I get on well with Daniel. I’ll be honest, I think Joe Lewis would have played a big part in it (his sacking). There was something to do with the team one day — we were playing at Man United.
“Joe had an opinion about who should play and I had a different opinion. I stuck with my opinion. I just think that had a big part of it but I wouldn’t want to go into it all.”
Spurs Web Opinion
This is quite a bizarre claim for Harry Redknapp to make, especially more than a decade after his sacking. Lewis might have had a casual conversation with Redknapp regarding the team selection but I very much doubt he would have expected the former Spurs manager to take his advice or demanded that he be sacked for not listening to him.