They say there’s no smoke without fire but it’s clear that any hopes that Harry Redknapp had with regard to becoming the next manager of England have all but disappeared after news of him being arrested.
City of London Police said five men – aged 69, 60, 55, 48 and 30 – were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. Portsmouth football club said manager Harry Redknapp and chief executive Peter Storrie were among those held.
It remains to be seen whether the Portsmouth manager, along with chief executive Peter Storrie, are charged with any particular offences but there is surely no way that the FA’s successful candidate will be someone linked to these kind of allegations.
Indeed, the bookmakers took a dim view of Wednesday’s evening’s breaking news. Redknapp went from 8/1 to 40/1 in the space of an hour and it’s likely that punters won’t be touching him with a bargepole from now on.