Customer Reviews

Always Managing (Unabridged)

Read it in 3 days on Holiday !
Funny and a great read and sad about Bobby Moore what a waste of experience.
Great insight in to Football.
Get it you will love it

I read the John Crace biography of Harry Redknapp "Harry's Games: Inside the Mind of Harry Redknapp" so thought I'd read this, the autobiography too. Needless to say this is better as it comes straight from the horse's mouth and isn't just someone else's interpretation of the man.

The opening chapter is great. It focuses on Harry's very public 2012 tax evasion trial and shows real vulnerability. A moving chapter indeed.

Other bits of the book allow Redknapp to address other things that have been said about him in the past, e.g. as in the aforementioned John Crace book, like accusations he took bungs, how he likes to hire "yes men" as assistant managers, how he financially crippled Portsmouth and how he is "tactically naive." Harry says, "I know I wouldn't have lasted as long as this in the game if I didn't know how to set up and organise a team, and improve players." You have to agree with Harry.

The book obviously takes you through his career too, right from youth teams Burdett Boys, East London Boys, training with Spurs twice a week around 1960-61, signing for West Ham, "a place where I felt I would get a chance," then Bournemouth, Seattle Sounders, Phoenix Fire before management first with Bobby Moore at Oxford City, then assistant and manager at Bournemouth winning the Associate Members Cup and promotion, "the highest up the league that Bournemouth had ever been," then West Ham winning the Intertoto Cup, Portsmouth winning the Championship, then Southampton and the abuse, back to Portsmouth and winning the FA Cup before Spurs and the Champion's League and his first season at QPR.

There are plenty of anecdotes along the way too on the characters Harry has met. There is Bobby Moore who Harry thinks should have been treated better. "Seeing him struggle confirmed to me that nobody in this game really gives a monkey's about you once you'be served your purpose." And then there are the stories about the players he's managed like Paolo di Canio for example, as well as various relationships with chairmen and other managers.

So overall an enjoyable read about one of the game's most colourful and likeable characters.

Any football fan will love this book. This isn't Harry Redknapp's autobiography, it's 'Arry Redknapp's. An honest, funny, down to earth football book. Class.

Great read from your every day average guy on his journey from the back yard to Wembley to the champions league. Outstanding

it was a christmas present to my son in law he thought it very good so passing it on to me to read thank you

Would recommend this book to any football fan, regardless of what team they support. Harry has had a great career and hopefully will continue to have success.

Harry Redknapp's 'Still Managing' is an indictment of English football and confirmation that had he been appointed as England manager it would have been a disaster. He attributes his failure to be appointed down to his face not fitting the FA's profile as well as Hodgson who 'we can all see....is more of an FA man". He claims, "Roy came up through the FA's system and has always been close to the organisers, UEFA and FIFA. He is on all their coaching panels at major tournaments. He is just the type that fits the bill". While there may be some truth in the FA not appointing the best qualified coaches to manage England (Brian Clough for example) Redknapp fails to appreciate that the meagre return on his many years in management wasn't good enough. Neither does Redknapp understand that senior England players who wanted him to manage the national team knew he would be too weak to provide the necessary leadership skills and would allow them to run the show themselves.

What is apparent from Redknapp's account is that financial accountability in football is murky at best, fraudulent at worst. He complains Milan Mandaric provided an incentive scheme whereby Redknapp would receive ten percent of any profit earned on a player he sold and was annoyed when Mandaric reduced it when Redknapp signed a new contract. The fact that Redknapp failed to notice the change was down to his careless way of dealing with important matters. He made a similar mistake when signing a contract with Tottenham Hotspur, a contract the League Managers Association said, 'was probably the worst one that had ever been signed with regard to release clauses". Perhaps Redknapp was naive in believing that opening an account in Monaco at his chairman's behest was above board or, as Jim Smith, his assistant at Portsmouth said, "Harry, are you thick or what? I bet he never put anything in there in the first place". He was similarly foolish when he signed for Phoenix Fire which was run by a con man. Such duplicity was foreign to Redknapp's upbringing amongst "good East End people, honest people" and lacked the nous to realise there are times when professional advice should be sought.

Redknapp is aggrieved by the fact that Trevor Brooking received a knighthood while Bobby Moore did not. He recalls an incident when Moore was asked to leave the West Ham ground because he did not have a ticket commenting, ' Thrown out of a half-empty stand at West Ham because he didn't have a ticket. Now he's dead you can't move for pictures of him around the place. It disgusts me'. He claims Brooking was the FA's cup of tea, whereas Moore was a player's player. Even Ron Greenwood failed to utilise Moore's services when he became England manager possibly because Moore was an integral part of the drinking culture that existed at the time. He is scathing about owners, although Bill Kenwright and Dave Whelan qualify as exceptions. Recent managerial changes instigated by owners appear to confirm Redknapp is right. Of course, managers don't always get it right. Redknapp signed a player called Carl Richards who was terrible but said he had a mate looking for a trial. Redknapp told Richards to tell his mate not to bother - and that's how he missed the opportunity of signing Ian Wright!

Redknapp knew he was on the way out of West Ham when he had a row with manager Ron Greenwood after being substituted and replaced by Trevor Brooking. Such quarrels seem an integral part of the egocentric nature of soccer. On occasion it leads to the transfer of players, at other times to the dismissal of the manager. There are interesting comments on other footballers. Referring to Tony Pulis as a player he said, 'He couldn't actually play. He couldn't pass it more than five yards...but when he set off for a tackle you wanted to dial 999 just to be on the safe side". Julian Dicks was a law unto himself - aggressive, indisciplined and neither Billy Bonds nor Redknapp had the guts to resist his unprofessional attitude, although he was off-loaded to Souness at Liverpool for whom kicking the opposition off the park was the kind of player he wanted. It comes as no surprise to learn Paolo Di Cano was a handful as a player and oblivious to his misbehaviour. The fact that he and Dicks were big favourites with West Ham fans speaks volumes.

Redknapp admits he made numerous mistakes when signing players, especially foreign ones. Paulo Futre refused to play because he was not given the number ten shirt, Marco Boogers was shown a red card in his second game and returned to Holland, allegedly with depression. However, 'the foreign legion at West Ham taught the players new standards of professionalism' especially in the areas of non-drinking and non-gambling. There's also the amusing stories such as the fan giving him grief over Chapman during a pre-season friendly. Redknapp turned on him, got him to get some kit on and sent him on. He scored!!!! Redknapp's biggest mistakes appear to have been not knowing when to keep his mouth shut. It cost him jobs at West Ham, Portsmouth and probably Tottenham. It cost him popularity when he left Portsmouth and managed Southampton.

Redknapp comes across as a family man, with down to earth priorities but unprofessional and disorganised in certain aspects of his profession. As a wheeler-dealer he made many shrewd buys, reselling at substantial profit . However, too often, "I didn't see the problem", although he did see a problem when his son Mark wanted to be a football agent - perhaps he should have advised Alex Ferguson!! One is reminded of Raquel's comment to Del Boy in Fools and Horses, 'No you don't think, you never think'. Yet somehow he manages and will always do so. Five stars for the read.

(WARNING: The review of this book may or more likely will contain spoilers!)

I have a lot of respect for Harry Redknapp. His ability to wheel and deal in the transfer market, and get the best out of individual players as well as clubs on the whole (well a lot of times anyway) have made him one of the most popular managers ever to have a presence in the English game. But even with that, I find it difficult to see how he's gonna be able to manage the financial mess at his current club, Queens Park Rangers, what with the ridiculous player wages prior to their relegation from the Premiership last summer, and with a reported �60 million fine for breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

Still, while the bank managers ponder over such thoughts, let's take a look at Harry's autobiography "Always Managing." Why? Because it is an entertaining read from page 1 to page 411; a series of exciting -and at times amusing- football adventures seen through the eyes of Redknapp. He comes across as being a very knowledgeable man when it comes to football, not surprising given that his involvement with the game stretches well over fifty years, and his ideas on how English players should be developed and how the English game in general should be run is an enthusiastic motivational speech that anybody with St.George's blood running through their veins will be uplifted by.

Harry Redknapp speaks with passion, never being afraid to say what's on his mind whether that be in the form of a compliment or a piece of harsh criticism. He his perhaps at his most passionate in the chapter in which he talks about England's 1966 World Cup winning captain, Bobby Moore, saying how Bobby was badly treated by both West Ham Football Club and the FA after his playing career drew to a close, that he was not given some form of ambassador role with either place. Me? I wasn't around at the time, so I couldn't possibly comment one way or the other. Nonetheless his choice of words and phrases in this chapter are very strong. You can clearly tell that this is a subject that means a lot to him, and makes it a standout chapter of this book.

The footie action comes thick and fast: Harry's court case a couple of years ago for financial irregularities; his early life in Poplar, London; and his playing days with West Ham and Bournemouth. His accounts of football and football players on and off the field in the 1960's are especially interesting given how very different they were to today's world. The action continues with his managerial career with the previously mentioned clubs; his mixture of good and bad foreign signings at West Ham; and his amazing adventures on the south coast with Portsmouth. There's even a few smile-raising segments in this book, including how one foreign player refused to play for West Ham because he wasn't happy with the squad number he was given!..I mean just a few years ago we had Charles N'Zogbia demanding that Newcastle United put him on the transfer list because the manager had mispronounced his name in an interview!...Now I've heard of everything!

"Always Managing" is a book that's so good you'll fancy reading it through a second time, and possibly even a third. Get your hands on a copy as soon as you can if you haven't already done so.

I enjoyed the book and read it quickly. I am a Spurs fan - and hold no particular brief for Redknapp whose mercenary instincts are clear despite all the 'cheeky chappie' bunk put in here - but I found the insights into the real world of football dealings interesting.

You would have to have a heart of granite to not sympathise for a man who lost a close friend in a horror accident during Italia 90 and whose career peaked at West Ham and was curtailed by injury issues. He is brutally honest about his limitations as a player - citing the (immortal) Bill Nicholson, who branded him as a winger who never scored. However, even though he professes brutal honesty, the description of his trial and his 'courting' of the England job do not ring true at all. Is Harry Rednapp an utter moron? I don't think so, but when it came to the 'secret account' that was pretty much his defence. The guy was acquitted, but read this and the simple question you find in your head is 'why' Read it - make your own judgement.

This is not an utterly ghost-written-out-of-existence sport autobiography and the real 'Arry - leaning out of the car window and chatting to Sky Sports News - can be heard so I would urge fans to buy this rather than - say - Rooney's lame output, but at the end, I liked him less

Felt after i'd read this book that i hadn't had all the story.......warts n all although the chapter concerning West Hams treatment of the legend Bobby Moore was a great read but to be honest i found the book lacklustre in parts although very readable in parts it was never a book i didn't want to put down like some books i've read in the past, i'm a huge admirer of Harry Redknapp but his book never hit the literary spot!!