Harry Redknapp - Personal Life

Personal Life

Redknapp was born in Poplar, London, the only child of Henry Joseph William Redknapp (1922–1996) and Violet May Brown (1924–2001).

At the age of 11, while playing for East London Schools football he was spotted by Dickie Walker, a Tottenham Hotspur scout. From there Harry grew up in the Tottenham youth ranks playing at Cheshunt, meeting the likes of Bill Nicholson, Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower. At the age of 15 Redknapp moved to West Ham and played alongside Bobby Moore. In a 2008 interview he stated as part of a tribute to Tom Finney: "I was a big Arsenal fan as a kid and I remember seeing him play against Tommy Docherty one night".

However, after being appointed Tottenham manager later that year he stressed his Tottenham connections as well, stating:

"I am a big follower of the history of the game and Tottenham have been a great club over the years. I followed Tottenham, I trained there as an 11-year-old, 12-year-old so I know the history of the club. It is a big, big club."

He is married to Sandra and they have two sons Jamie Redknapp, a now-retired footballer, and Mark, who is a model. Jamie made his professional debut under his father at AFC Bournemouth in 1990 before moving on to Liverpool and later Tottenham Hotspur and finally Southampton before retiring in 2005. His nephew is Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard Junior whose parents are Sandra's late twin sister, Patricia, and Harry's former teammate and managerial assistant Frank Lampard Senior.

He and his wife Sandra are the fundraising presidents for the Southampton based charity Leukaemia Busters, a role that they took over in 2004 previously held by former cricketer David Gower and his wife Thorunn.

Redknapp and his wife also own a property development company, Pierfront Developments. In August 2011, it was announced that a housing development their company is building in Southsea, Hampshire, will go ahead without affordable housing. The £600,000 they offered to the council to build affordable homes elsewhere, was accepted by the council. Opponents of the scheme estimated that this will only be enough to build eight homes, instead of the 28 that council policy says they should be building in this development.

In January 2011, he was mugged while attending a football game in Spain. On 2 November 2011, he had an operation to unblock coronary arteries. In June 2012, it was announced that Redknapp was joining the online gambling company, Betfair, as its ‘Euro 2012 columnist’. This involves previewing games for the tournament and providing betting tips for Betfair customers.