In Conversation With Harry Redknapp

We were delighted to meet ex-football manager, ‘King of the Jungle’ and watch enthusiast Harry Redknapp and with our CEO, Brian Duffy he sat down to discuss his career highlights, his love of watches, and iconic timepieces that make ideal gifts from Watches of Switzerland.

Harry Redknapp is a man who needs no introduction. In his long career in football, the 72-year-old has managed the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Southampton, Queens Park Rangers and Portsmouth, the latter of which he led to a memorable victory in the 2008 FA Cup. Ten years later in 2018, he was catapulted to new heights of fame when he was crowned ‘King of the Jungle’ on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! For Redknapp, football is, in his words, ‘his life’. Scouted at the age of 11, he played for Tottenham Hotspur’s youth team until he was 15, training every Tuesday and Thursday night after school and for six weeks during school holidays. He subsequently moved to his local team West Ham United, where he played alongside footballing great Bobby Moore.

It was during Harry’s early playing days that he developed his taste for luxury watches. He was presented with an engraved OMEGA timepiece when the England youth team in which he played won the 1964 UEFA Under-18 Championship, defeating Spain 4–0 in the final. It was his first watch, and a special memento of his international career. But, on a trip to the seaside with Frank Lampard Snr (his brother-in-law), he left it tucked inside his trainer while he went for a dip in the ocean – and sadly, when he returned, the tide had washed away the trainer, and his treasured timepiece along with it. ‘It was my pride and joy’, he remembers.

In 2005, Harry began his second spell as manager of Portsmouth (he’d previously managed the team from 2001 to 2004). In 2008, he guided the club to its first FA Cup Final in 69 years, where they defeated Cardiff City 1-0 – the last time an English football trophy was won by an English manager. For that triumph, Harry received an engraved Rolex, which he wears with pride. ‘That would be the timepiece I would save in a fire,’ he muses.

You can listen to the podcast below