Arrested Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp denies involvement

The Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, nabbed in football corruption raids, claims innocence.

Arrested Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp denies involvement The manager of Premier League Portsmouth Harry Redknapp has expressed disappointment of the way the London police is handling the European football corruption investigation and claimed he had taken no part in any illegal activities. Harry Redknapp became the fifth person to be arrested by the London police in relation to the football corruption investigation going on for over an year. "This is absolutely nothing to do with me whatsoever. It's not in my field to see who receives what and how much agents are paid. I still feel I was only called in because I have a high profile. I add a bit of a profile to the investigation. The whole crux of the meeting [with the police] was the fact that an agent had been paid an agent's fee and had paid some of the money to the player. That was the top and bottom of the issue, the player and the football agent. There was nothing else for me to talk about," Redknapp said on Thursday during a press conference.

According to reports, police raided Redknapp's home at around 6:00am, while he was away from home at a Champions League match in Germany. Portsmouth's former chairman Milan Mandaric was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. Charlton player and Senegalese international Amdy Faye (loaned to Rangers) is rumored to be another one of the five arrested. Speculations in the British press point to the transfer of Amdy Faye to Portsmouth from the French club Auxerre, and from Portsmouth to Newcastle, as the main target of the football fraud probe.

Published on 11/29/2007