Harry Redknapp exclusive: 'Managers are finished'

Harry Redknapp is convinced that the days of a powerful manager running an English club are numbered.

And the Portsmouth boss has no intention of hanging around when it eventually happens.

Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley resigned from their posts at Newcastle and West Ham last week after claiming they were kept in the dark about transfer policies.

And Redknapp believes that further foreign investment in top-flight football will signal the end of the way a boss operates.

Redknapp said: "It's not a case of if but when. Trust me, the billionaire owners who are buying up football clubs want a far greater say.

"They don't just want to own a football club, they want to go out and choose who plays for them as well.

"The day is coming when a manager will have little or no input into who is bought or sold. It's like that abroad and you can see more and more clubs going down that route as wealthier individuals take control.

"Foreign clubs like Real Madrid and some of the top Italian sides have been working like that for years.

"The only function a manager has is to select his team and coach them. The problem with that is when it all goes wrong on the pitch it's the manager who gets fired for other people's decision-making."

Redknapp cites the situation at Manchester City as a prime example of the way football is going to evolve.

"I'm sure Mark Hughes right was delighted to get Robinho but he wouldn't have had anything to do with it," he explained. "The new owners would have made that decision and the way they have bandied names around left, right and centre I'm damned sure that wasn't done in consultation with Mark."

Redknapp accepts that he is fortunate in that, although Pompey are in foreign ownership, his immediate bosses don't try to impose themselves on him.

He added: "I'm very lucky in that I have a great working relationship with Alexandre Gaydamak. I guess I'm an exception to the rule. He has never tried to tell me who to buy and sell.

"He relies on me to identify the players I want to bring into the club, and that is the way it should be.

"Don't get me wrong - people seem to assume I have a problem with directors of football but that isn't the case at all.

"But if you are going to use that structure the relationship between the manager and the director of football has to be solid. When it isn't you get a situation like the one that developed at Newcastle, where Kevin Keegan clearly didn't get on with Dennis Wise and it led to major issues.

"I don't really know what went on but you can assume that things happened that Kevin had no control over.

"A director of football was mentioned to me when I met Newcastle but I didn't want that. I wanted to manage my way. That was the only way I saw the job."

Redknapp is adamant that if the day arrives when he is told who to buy and sell he will get up and walk away.

"I might be old-fashioned but I'm not having that," he concluded.

"If I'm going to manage a team I want control over player recruitment. I'm not buying into someone picking and choosing the players for me.

"Stuff that. The day that happens will be the day I walk out on football for good."

HARRY'S CAREER

WEST HAM

Started: Aug 10 1994

Finished: May 9 2001

Games: 327 Won: 121

Drawn: 85 Lost: 121

PORTSMOUTH

Started: Mar 25 2002

Finished: Nov 24 2004

Games: 116 Won: 54

Drawn: 26 Lost: 36

SOUTHA MPTON

Started: Dec 8 2004

Finished: Dec 2 2005

Games: 49 Won: 13

Drawn: 21 Lost: 15

PORTSMOUTH

Started: Dec 7 2005

Games: 118 Won: 50

Drawn: 26 Lost: 42

OVERALL RECORD

Games: 510 Won: 238

Drawn: 158 Lost: 214

LEAGUE FINISHES

1994-95: 14th West Ham

1995-96: 10th West Ham

1996-97: 14th West Ham

1997-98: 8th West Ham

1998-99: 5th West Ham

1999-2000: 9th West Ham

2000-01: 15th West Ham

2001-02: 17th (Div 1) Portsmouth

2002-03: 1st (Div 1) Portsmouth

2003-04: 13th Portsmouth

2004-05: 20th Southampton

2005-06: 17th Portsmouth

2006-07: 9th Portsmouth

2007-08: 8th Portsmouth

Compiled by Harry Low