There's already a (bad) joke circulating in Britain about Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp's arrest on Wednesday night. Harry Redknapp got off the plane after watching a Champions League match in Germany and was told he was wanted. "By England?" he asked. No, in the end, it was the British authorities who wanted him to question him regarding illegal "bungs" or bribes from agents.
The sad fact, the Guardian's Nick Szczepanik says is that Redknapp would have made a decent choice for England coach, but the Football Association would never consider him because for fear of just such an incident. According to Szczepanik, the Portsmouth manager has a sketchy history of sitting at the back-room bribery table in England's transfer market, so his arrest shouldn't really come as a surprise -- especially following such an in-depth investigation into the illegal practice.
In the book "Broken Dreams," author Tom Bower says that former West Ham Chairman Terence Brown was concerned that Redknapp, then manager of the West End club, had been taking bribes. Then, last fall there was the BBC "Panama" report in which Redknapp is caught on tape discussing a transfer with an undercover agent. As Szczepanik says, it's a tremendous shame because Redknapp is responsible for discovering and reviving the careers of some of the most entertaining players in the English Premier League.
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