Harry Redknapp has insisted claims that some of his former players bet on their own match was “nothing to do” with him.
The former West Ham, Portsmouth and Tottenham boss is the latest high profile figure to be embroiled in the Telegraph’s investigation into football.
The paper secretly recorded Redknapp discussing a match with football agent Dax Price, on which Price claims many of Redknapp’s then players had bet – which is against FA rules.
The paper has not named the match, the players or either of the clubs in question, but does say that bookmakers had given Redknapp’s side long odds on his team winning, because it was an end of season game and they had nothing to play for. They went on to win the game.
It is made clear that there is no suggestion that Redknapp knew of any betting when the match took place.
Tomorrow's Daily Telegraph front page: "Hammond's warning to business" pic.twitter.com/Tf3f2vIVZK
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 30, 2016
When the story was put to Redknapp he told the Telegraph: “Who gives a s— about that?”
After being told it would have contravened FA regulations, he said: “Oh would it? Oh, OK. But not at that time I don’t think it was, was it? They weren’t betting on the other team, they were having a bet on their own team.”
He added: “Unbeknownst to me. No, not a spread bet. It wasn’t a spread bet. I think they had a bet on the game, but it wasn’t, that was nothing to do with me… after the game I’d heard the rumour the lads had had a bet that day… I’m not in control of whether they go and have a bet or not.”
He is also seen in the film allegedly discussing third party ownership, which is banned.
But he told the paper: “It’s not something that I’ve ever been involved in, and it’s not something that I’d want to get involved in. As far as buying players go and me investing, you’ve got to be dreaming. I would not invest, why would I invest in buying footballers?”
It is the latest twist in the Telegraph’s ten month long sting into the workings of the game at the top level.
Already the paper’s claims have forced Sam Allardyce out of his job as England manager after just 67 days when he was filmed by undercover reporters discussing the FA’s third party ownership rules and criticising his predecessor Roy Hodgson.
On Thursday Barnsley sacked assistant manager Tommy Wright after he was filmed allegedly accepting a £5,000 cash payment from a reporter posing as the representative of a fictitious far eastern company looking to invest in football.
And the same day, the paper named Southampton assistant manager Eric Black when they claimed Black attended a meeting with agent Scott McGarvey and an undercover reporter earlier this month at a Hampshire hotel, where he was recorded on secret camera allegedly discussing payments to club officials.
A spokesman for Mr Black told the Telegraph: “[Mr Black] does not recall Mr McGarvey making suggestions that football officials should be paid during transfer negotiations – this was not the purpose of the meeting so far as our client understood it. Any suggestion that he was complicit in such discussions is false.”
As well as Allardyce, Wright and Black the investigation has also named QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The club responded by launching an internal investigation, but Hasselbaink himself denies any wrongdoing.
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