‘Sensational’ – Stelling shares what Redknapp told Paul Merson before he signed for Portsmouth
Harry Redknapp will always be remembered fondly at Portsmouth.
In his two spells at Fratton Park, Pompey had the likes of Peter Crouch on their books in the second division, which was incomparable to John Mousinho’s current Portsmouth squad.
Like Mousinho, Redknapp revived a struggling squad and was smart in the way he recruited, as he targeted experienced forward Paul Merson.
Merson’s game time with Aston Villa had been dwindling, and in 2002, Redknapp rang him up with an interesting offer.
Merson was given the special treatment at Portsmouth
Merson has continued to keep track of how Portsmouth are doing since he left in 2003.
The former England international still regularly covers Portsmouth on Sky Sports News and was full of praise for them last season.
The story of how he arrived with the Blues in 2002 is an interesting one, which former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Sterling has revealed on TalkSport.
“I remember when Merse went to Portsmouth, and he was living in the Midlands at the time, and Harry Redknapp rang and he wanted him to come and join him,” Stelling said.
“Merse didn’t know where he was, he said ‘Where are you, Harry?’, and he said I’m in Portsmouth, son, and he said ‘no, I’m not going down there, I’ve got my family and my kids in Birmingham, I can’t be going down there every day’.
- Redknapp guided Pompey to the Division One title in the 2002/03 season
- He kept Portsmouth in the Premier League in the 2003–04 season, but had a dispute with Portsmouth owner Milan Mandaric and resigned
“He said, ‘Look, son, do this, you turn up for training on Friday and play on Saturday and you’ll still be better than the rest,’ so that was the deal.
“That’s Harry’s man management for you, absolutely sensational.”
Mousinho can match Redknapp’s Portsmouth record
Redknapp’s legendary status is hard to fulfill at Pompey.
However, Mousinho appears to have all the right attributes to catch up with the former Blues boss.
| Manager | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Win percentage |
| Mousinho | 127 | 56 | 36 | 35 | 44.09% |
| Redknapp | 243 | 108 | 55 | 81 | 44.4% |
Redknapp had an enjoyable two spells at Fratton Park, and in his second, he guided Pompey to their first FA Cup final in 69 years and won the trophy in 2008.
The 78-year-old’s activity in the transfer market wasn’t too dissimilar to Mousinho’s today.
The former Oxford United midfielder has been smart with his recruitment since moving to the South Coast, and this summer they have brought in six new signings despite only spending £1million each on Luke Le Roux and Mark Kosznovszky.
Mousinho and Redknapp both had similar approaches to the way they manage, and should the Pompey boss reach the Premier League, he could be held at a similar level to Redknapp.
That is a massive ask, though.
Sign up for the Pompey News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Portsmouth news sent straight to your phone.