10 Biggest Premier League Controversies
7. Harry Redknapp's Dog's Offshore Account
The Background:
Self-styled Del Boy-esque bargain hunting wheeler dealer and ex-Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp is no stranger to questions about his financial dealings.
In 2006 a BBC Panorama documentary showed him appearing to talk to an agent about illegally "tapping up" Blackburn's Andy Todd. Meanwhile, the Stevens Report which followed the documentary questioned several payments made in Redknapp's Portsmouth signings using the agent Willie McKay (himself back in the news more recently after he hired the single-engine plane on which Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala died).
Redknapp, McKay, and former Portsmouth owner Milan Mandarić had all been arrested in November 2007, but were released without charge. On the question of the racehorse Double Fantasy, allegedly given to him by McKay, Redknapp simply answered that the horse was worthless as it never won a race.
The Controversy:
In 2010 Redknapp, now the manager of Tottenham, is arrested again as part of the same ongoing inquiry into corruption in football. This time he is charged with tax evasion over payments made by Mandarić into an offshore account registered in Monaco in the name of Redknapp's dog Rosie.
The case comes to trial in January 2012 and Redknapp, who had already suggested that he did not get the England job when Fabio Capello was appointed in 2008 because of his previous arrest, now argues that this further insinuation of corruption will cost him the chance of being Capello's replacement.
The Aftermath:
Redknapp is found not guilty after the jury accept that he lied to the News Of The World in his earlier claim that the money was a personal bonus for the sale of Peter Crouch to Aston Villa. In fact, Redknapp argues that the £189,000 was "an investment" from Mandarić that he just forgot was there. Must be nice to be able to let a six-figure sum just slip your mind like that!
Redknapp claims that England players including Steven Gerrard texted him to back him for the England job, but Gerrard points out that he doesn't even have 'Arry's number. Redknapp continues to blame the trial for the FA choosing Roy Hodgson over him to replace Capello, even though the "not guilty" verdict came back before Capello had even resigned.