Redknapp and Mandaric were like the 'Odd Couple' court hears

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp and his former chairman were dubbed the “Odd Couple” at their tax trial yesterday.

Ex-Portsmouth chief Milan Mandaric’s defence barrister Lord Macdonald QC compared the two to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the movie about two divorced men sharing a flat.

In closing remarks, he said the tax evasion case against them, more than £189,000 in alleged bungs paid into a Monaco account for Redknapp, was “paper thin”.

He described the two as “an odd couple, a bit like the old film starring Jack Lemmon – different men, different backgrounds but, I would suggest, a deep affection”.

Redknapp’s barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, told Southwark crown court the case revolved around the portrayal of Redknapp as “greedy”.

He reminded the jury of Redknapp’s charity work and his comments to police that he and his wife were “givers, not takers”.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said Redknapp’s benefits when Portsmouth boss – including a £400,000 bonus for securing promotion in 2003 and £200,000 if he kept the club in the Premier League – were contractually set out. He said it “offended common sense” to suggest he would get any further off-record bonuses.

Lord Macdonald said evidence against Mandaric was “hopelessly weak”.

Both Redknapp, 64, of Poole, Dorset, and Mandaric, from Oadby, Leics, deny two counts of cheating the public revenue. Judge Anthony Leonard QC will sum up today before sending the jury out.

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