Harry Redknapp

West Ham United

During his playing career, Redknapp played as a midfielder. He began his career with Tottenham Hotspur, playing for the youth team until he was 15 years old, when he moved to West Ham United. He first broke into the first team at West Ham in the 1965–66 season, making seven appearances and scoring one goal. He made his debut for West Ham in a 1–1 draw at home to Sunderland on 23 August 1965. His first goal came in a 4–1 away win over Tottenham on 8 April 1966. Redknapp made his first start of the 1966–67 season, and scored his second goal for the club, on 3 December 1966 in a 3–0 win over West Bromwich Albion. Redknapp made 12 League appearances scoring once during his second season. During the 1967–68 season, he made 28 League appearances and scored twice, the first in a 4–2 home win over Burnley on 21 August 1967 and the second in a 5–1 away win over Sunderland on 6 September 1967. During the 1968–69 season, Redknapp made 42 appearances and scored three times, with 36 appearances coming in the league (along with two goals), three in the FA Cup appearances and three in the League Cup (along with one goal). His first league goal of the season came in a 4–0 win over West Brom on 31 August 1968, while the next came in a match in the League Cup against Bolton Wanderers, which West Ham won 4–0. Redknapp received a red card in a 2–0 away defeat at Leeds United on 12 October 1968. He had been booked for fouling Billy Bremner and was dismissed by the referee…

Redknapp represented England at youth level when he was 17. He was in the side that won the 1964 UEFA European Under-18 Championship after defeating Spain 4–0 in the final.

Seattle Sounders and Oxford City

Redknapp began his management career as player-assistant manager of NASL club Seattle Sounders from 1976 to 1979 under Jimmy Gabriel. During his time with Seattle, Redknapp made 24 appearances, helping the side to second place in the Pacific Conference, Western Division, in his first season as player-coach, and then to third place in the Pacific Conference, Western Division, for the 1977 season, taking them to the final of the Soccer Bowl, before losing to Pelé's New York Cosmos. During the 1978 season, Redknapp helped Seattle to a third-place finish in the National Conference, Western Division, before they lost in the first round of the playoffs, again to the New York Cosmos. In his final year in Seattle, he helped them to another third-place finish in the National Conference, Western Division, but this time they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

AFC Bournemouth

At the beginning of the 1982–83 season, Redknapp took up his first major coaching role as assistant manager to David Webb at Bournemouth, six years after leaving the club as a player. Redknapp applied for the manager's job when Webb moved to Torquay United partway through that season, but was overlooked in favour of Don Megson. Megson was sacked in late 1983 as Bournemouth were in the Third Division relegation places, and Redknapp was hired as his replacement in October 1983. In his first season at the helm, Redknapp helped Bournemouth avoid relegation to the…

Redknapp was born in Poplar, London, the only child of Henry Joseph William Redknapp (1922–1996) and Violet May Brown (1924–2001). At age 15, Redknapp moved to West Ham United and played alongside Bobby Moore. In a 2008 interview, Redknapp 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."

After being appointed Tottenham manager later in 2008, Redknapp 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.