Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp may have turned the club’s fortunes around, but is he a lucky man to still to be in the job?

Tottenham have finally this season under Harry Redknapp begun to find the form that should be expected from the current crop of players at White Hart Lane. Sitting in fifth spot with an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to, Tottenham Hotspur are looking a good side. A fitting tribute to a talented manager in Harry Redknapp who let’s face it has never received the praise he deserves over his managerial career. Finally in his sixties he has been given a ‘big’ job.

I am a fan of the former West Ham and Portsmouth boss, he clearly is a motivator and his decisiveness as a manager warms me to him. Though I think he is very lucky to still be in that Spurs job considering the furore around his recent bail for alleged Tax evasion. This is clearly a sticky situation for not only Harry Redknapp but Tottenham Hotspur. Redknapp has been surrounded by controversy since 2006 when the BBC documentary Panorama showed what appeared to be Redknapp taking an interest in illegally approaching a player. The player in question was then Blackburn Rovers’ Andy Todd. Redknapp denied the allegations.

The Stevens Report in 2007 into football corruption after Mike Newell had dramatically announced that bribes and backhanders were commonplace in football found a criticism of the Tottenham manager. Harry Redknapp was given ownership of a horse called ‘Double Fantasy’ by agent Willie McKay which aroused suspicion. Redknapp denied any wrongdoing as he claimed the Horse wasn’t of racing quality and didn’t win a race. Later that year Redknapp was arrested along with Peter Storrie, Milan Mandaric, Willie McKay and Amdy Faye over alleged fraudulent accounting at Portsmouth. He was released without charge and successfully sued the Police after an illegal house search.

More recently Harry Redknapp is again on bail after claims of Tax evasion by HM Revenue & Customs. This relates to payments made by then Portsmouth Chairman Milan Mandaric into Harry Redknapp’s account without paying Tax. It’s not all exactly pleasant reading.

The Spurs manager released a statement through his solicitor on his latest arrest ‘Harry has co-operated fully with investigators during the course of this inquiry and is confident of a successful outcome to these court proceedings.’ Let’s hope for Tottenham and Redknapp’s sake this is true because no-one seems to be thinking about the consequences of this.

Tottenham Hotspur have said that this is a private non-football matter that happened before his Spurs tenure and has no effect on his current role. Well that’s not entirely true is it? It is a footballing matter as it occurred over football transfer dealings. Tottenham Hotspur’s current form is sweeping under the rug the fact that if Redknapp is found guilty of Tax evasion where do Spurs go from there?

Rumours and allegations are a difficult business, Harry Redknapp is clearly innocent until found guilty. But Tottenham Hotspur does not seem to be taking these allegations as seriously as they should. If Tottenham were not within striking position of gaining fourth spot would they look so favourably on the legal furore that currently surrounds Redknapp? I doubt it.

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