By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – Harry Redknapp (pictured), the most successful English club manager of recent years and the man favoured to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss after Euro 2012, appeared in court today to face accusations of tax evasion.
Redknapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur, is charged along with Milan Mandaric with cheating the public revenue, involving payments totalling $295,000 (£183,000/€229,000) allegedly made by Mandaric to Redknapp when they were chairman and manager respectively of Portsmouth.
As anticipated given the high-profile nature of a case that has lurked ominously in the background while he steered his team into the Premier League’s top three, a media scrum greeted Redknapp, who denies the charges, as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court.
The first charge alleges that, between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007, Mandaric paid $145,000 (£93,100/€112,600) into a bank account held by Redknapp in Monaco, to avoid paying income tax and national insurance.
The second charge for the same offence relates to a sum of $150,000 (£96,300/€116,500) allegedly paid by Mandaric to the same account between May 1, 2004 and November 28, 2007.
Redknapp, 64, who underwent minor heart surgery last year, led Portsmouth to FA Cup success in 2008 and Tottenham to last season’s Champions League quarter-finals in what was their first season among the European elite.
Mandaric (pictured) is now chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, having also worked at Leicester.
Judge Anthony Leonard told jurors to “leave prejudice or favour behind” as a panel of eight men and four women were sworn in.
“The defendants are two well-known personalities within the world of football,” he said.
He said football “almost overwhelms other aspects in life” as he ordered jurors to focus solely on the charges.
“It can prejudice if you hold such allegiances or prejudices” towards clubs that the defendants were or are at, he said.
The case is expected to take up to two weeks.
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