Harry Redknapp set to quit Soccer Aid
After leading six teams to victory, Harry Redknapp is ready to step away from Soccer Aid.
Harry Redknapp is quitting Soccer Aid.
The 79-year-old coach has led six teams to victory in the charity game - which sees celebrities and veteran footballers take part in an England v World XI televised game to raise money for Unicef - but he's ready to "bow out" at the top and pass the batton on to another manager.
He told The Sun newspaper: “I think I’ll probably retire myself off.
“I think I’d better get rid of me now, yeah.
“We won this year so you know, that might be it for me.
“I’ll bow out. Best to go out at the top rather than being booted out for getting beat again or something.”
The former Tottenham Hotspur manager first got involved with Soccer Aid in 2008 and has "hopped the fence" to manage both sides in the nine matches he's been involved with.
This year, he teamed up with The Chase host Bradley Walsh in England's backroom, leading them to a 3-2 victory thanks to goals from Jermain Defoe, Chris O’Dowd and Damson Idris.
He reflected: “Me and Bradley were like a dream team.
“We picked the winning team between us. Bradley was fantastic and just having a few days with Bradley was worth all the money.”
And the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! favourite joked he didn't need to be part of this year's World Cup because he was doing something just as exciting.
He quipped: “It would be lovely to be in on the action for the World Cup, but I had Soccer Aid instead.”
Meanwhile, Harry singled out Tommy Fury as "the worst" person he's seen on the pitch at Soccer Aid.
He told the i newspaper: "A lot of the celebrities think they could play football, but they can’t. The worst player I ever seen at Soccer Aid was Tommy Fury. He looks great, but Tommy is a boxer, he’d never kicked a football in his life.
"The ball went out of play and he rolled it in underarm. He didn’t know what a throw-in was.
"We had GK Barry – she was scared the ball was gonna hit her. She was terrible.
"Keir Starmer was there [at the training session], I don’t know if he’s a good footballer, I didn’t see him – I shouldn’t say that, in case it stops me getting a knighthood!"
