Harry Redknapp is expected to strengthen his squad next month but insists his reputation as a “wheeler dealer” who is obssessed with playing the transfer market is unfair.
He said: “Where does this come from? At Tottenham, I bought three players in January. Steven Pienaar, who they sold for a profit. Rafael van der Vaart, who was just fantastic and Scott Parker. I didn’t buy anyone else and that was over a two-year period. We bought Sandro in before that, but where are all these others? I only sign players if the team’s rubbish — what do you do?
“There is no one in the world who can walk in, take over a c**p team and wave a magic wand, be a super coach and turn them into a great team. I have never seen anyone capable of doing that.
“So what do you do? You have to go and get better players in. That’s all I’ve ever done. It’s worked for me. I went back to Portsmouth, the team were rubbish, I bought four players in, one on loan and it turned us round, we stayed up.
“I don’t know what wheeling and dealing is. I find it insulting. I’m not a ‘wheeler dealer’, I’m a manager and a good coach. I understand football. I know a good player from a bad one, I’m not always right but most of the time I am, that’s why I have been doing this for 30 years. I must have got more decisions right than wrong.”
The most players Redknapp signed in a transfer window at Spurs was six, in the summer of 2009.
But he pointed out: “Chelsea managers are always signing a load of players. Mark Hughes brought in 12 to QPR in the summer, it doesn’t mean Mark is a ‘wheeler dealer’ does it? It means he wanted to improve the team.”
