Harry Redknapp’s autobiography just doesn’t ‘add up’

It’s been difficult for me to be anything but walking on air this week. Last Sunday saw a great result which many West Ham fans are still delighted with, one that had me smiling so much I had to be asked by my hairdresser why I had a maniacal grin on my face. It’s not every weekend we gain a result like this and to bask in such glory is something we are rightly cherishing.

Expecting nothing to darken my mood, I opened the sport pages of the Daily Mail and saw a serialisation of the new ghost-written Harry Redknapp autobiography. I thought it important to point out that it was ghost-written as the more sceptical members of the West Ham and/or football community may have been surprised that Harry had produced a new book after admitting to police a few years ago during interviews that he ‘writes like a two-year-old.’

In these brief serialisations, Mr Redknapp, with the help of his ghost-writer, has admitted many groundbreaking revelations, including how it was him that made Gareth Bale a world-class player. Quite a claim, and makes you consider just how good Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could become if they had played their formative years under his stewardship. After all, having played alongside Bobby Moore, Mr Redknapp obviously knows a world-class player when he sees one. Which neatly brings me on to my next point.

Harry has decided to come out and complain about West Ham’s treatment of the East End’s favourite son, Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore. Under the headline ‘The Sickening Betrayal Of Bobby Moore’ Harry and his ghost-writer complain about the fact Sir Trevor Brooking has received a knighthood whilst Bobby didn’t (something obviously out of West Ham’s control), that West Ham have seemingly only been respectful to the career of Bobby after his death, and that he was kicked out of a game in the 1979-80 season and treated ‘like a hooligan.’

Now, I appreciate it is very difficult for me to voice an opinion that isn’t libelous, but I find it difficult to believe Harry’s story about Bobby being asked to leave the ground for a few reasons. Firstly, if I was at a game and one of the game’s greatest players was there and asked to leave, I think I’d remember the game and opposition, especially as it was at the ground that this player was best known throughout his club career. Harry has stated he doesn’t remember the opposition. Secondly, why has this news only come out now? Surely, somebody other than Harry would have seen this and made it common knowledge. Granted in this article Redknapp said it was a sparsely populated fixture, but such an iconic figure as a World Cup winning captain would probably be fairly recognisable by fans on his own manor. And finally, the story suggests that it was a club rule to have him removed from the club secretary as he didn’t have a ticket. Ok, but if he was asked nicely to leave the ground, that to me suggests he wasn’t being treated ‘like a hooligan’ that the sensationalist headline has us believe.

Whether true or not, the story has raised the ire of many people. Some pro-Harry, others not. But, for a man with a reputation like Harry has, it seems inconceivable that he, and his ghost-writer, could claim our club ‘betrayed’ Bobby Moore, when many in the game have suggested he indeed betrayed his best friend Billy Bonds. To me, the proceeds of the book going to the Bobby Moore Cancer Charity was a grand gesture, but the cynic in me thinks it’s to possibly save face, as he, and his ghost-writer, may have included a few further stories that show Harry in a less favourable light.

Which is why I’ll get on to the subject of Harry and Bonzo next time

@TheRobTaylor32