Always Managing: My Autobiography By Harry Redknapp Release date: 11th October, 2013 Publisher: Ebury Press List Price: £18.99 Our Price: £9.00 You Save: £9.99 (52%) Buy Now

Harry Redknapp’s autobiography is a thumping, 400-plus page tome covering a life encompassing everything from “standing on Highbury’s North Bank with my dad” to his 50 years’ involvement with the beautiful game. “I was born head over heels in love with football,” he writes – that much we knew, but thankfully, Always Managing doesn’t shy away from numerous controversies that have dogged Redknapp’s managerial career. Indeed ultimately, it was rumours and innuendo which ensured his face was never going to fit within the FA’s hallowed portals: certainly not as England manager. Following a spell in Spurs’ youth team, Harry developed into a fast, tricky winger with West Ham where he played in a side featuring stalwarts such as Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, World Cup winners all. Though a decent footballer, he would really make his mark as a manager and it was a move to Bournemouth in the early 1970s which led to the start of a career that has seen him take the helm at more than half a dozen clubs. However, it could be argued that the pivotal moment in his life came outside of football, in Italy in 1990, when a vehicle travelling at 90mph on the wrong side of the road collided with the car carrying Harry and four colleagues; only Redknapp survived. The best manager England never had? It’s a topic which has occupied football fans for years, but there’s no doubt that two brushes with the law adversely affected his chances of becoming the national team’s head coach. In 2007, he was arrested by City of London police on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, but later released without charge. Then, in 2010, an investigation by HMRC resulted in him being charged with cheating the public purse, though he was found not guilty on both counts. Given what he and his family went through, Redknapp describes the debilitating impact of each episode with great dignity. This is no surprise, for by the end of an engaging read, he emerges as a thoroughly decent character, an attribute which complements his role as an accomplished football manager.