'They know where I am' - could Redknapp return to manage Spurs?

Harry Redknapp has not managed a Premier League club since 2015 Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has said the Spurs hierarchy "know where I am" if they want him to replace current interim boss Igor Tudor – so could the 79-year-old make a sensational return to north London? Redknapp enjoyed a successful near four-year spell at Tottenham between 2008 and 2012, winning 71 of 144 Premier League games and securing top-four finishes in two of his three full seasons. Tudor has lost all four games since replacing Thomas Frank on 14 February, leaving them just a point above the Premier League's bottom three and needing to overturn a 5-2 first-leg deficit against Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League. Tudor's position has come under intense scrutiny following his decision to substitute Antonin Kinsky after the goalkeeper gifted early goals to Marcos Llorente and Julian Alvarez in Tuesday's heavy defeat in Spain. Speaking at the Cheltenham Festival, where he had a runner in the Gold Cup, Redknapp played down rumours of a return to Tottenham but told Sky Sports: "They know where I am if they need me. "They need somebody to go in there and give them a lift and make them believe in themselves. "They're bang in trouble, I must be truthful. It's going to be tight at the bottom, isn't it?" In an interview with Talksport earlier this week, Redknapp revealed he had spoken with former Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, who told him he would have offered Redknapp the manager's job at Spurs until the summer. "I got a phone call last week from Daniel, funnily enough," Redknapp said. "I think I spoke to him once since I left all that time ago. I was in the car last week and suddenly my phone goes – it's Daniel Levy. "I was on the phone to him for about half an hour. He said to me: 'If I was there now, and I'm not just saying it, I would bring you back until the end of the season, Harry'. That would have been interesting." Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp are both racehorse owners, but in 2011 they were rival bosses as Manchester United faced Tottenham If he did make a dramatic return to the club, Redknapp – who this week was named as a contestant on ITV reality show 'I'm A Celebrity… South Africa' – would be by far the oldest manager to take charge of a Premier League club. Aged 79 years and 12 days, Redknapp is two and a half years older than current record holder Roy Hodgson was when he left Crystal Palace in February 2024. Redknapp is currently 10th on the list of oldest Premier League bosses, having left his last top-flight role with QPR in 2015 - a month before his 68th birthday. He would not be the only big name to make a surprise return to management this season. Ex-Leicester, Aston Villa , Sunderland and Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill, 74, is currently in his second interim spell in charge of Celtic, while Neil Warnock, 77, was recently named caretaker boss at National League South side Torquay United. Speaking to Radio 5 Live, former Premier League goalkeeper Rob Green said Redknapp's return to Spurs would be even more "left-field" than O'Neill's appointment at Celtic Park. "I think it is even further for Spurs, but that is the sort of expertise in man management [they need]," he said. "It is a different kind of manager than the coaches we have now. "The players have to have a charismatic leader to go in and lift the place, and certainly make them feel better about themselves. "[Redknapp] is a manager that knows the club well. He certainly has a skill at getting the best out of people and people feeling good about themselves on the pitch. "But for now, I just don't see someone who has been out of the game in the country for as long as he has [coming back into management]. Earlier this season, Tottenham 's Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence were widely criticised for refusing to shake former manager Frank's hand following a limp home defeat to Chelsea - behaviour which former Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel says Redknapp would not condone. "Can you imagine a player not shaking his hand after a game?" Friedel told the BBC's Sportsworld. "That player wouldn't be in the squad for the next game. "When they fired Thomas Frank, I was one of the people that said to get someone like Harry - very similar to what Celtic did [with O'Neill] after [sacking] Wilfried Nancy. "Harry would have gone in and said the right things." 'You can cry or you can fight' - Tudor on Spurs mentality Former Premier League striker Glenn Murray feels that while Redknapp would bring positivity on a short-term basis, Spurs would be better off looking elsewhere. "I feel like Harry has got Tottenham in his blood and he wants the best for them," Murray told Radio 5 Live's Premier League Kick-Off. "He makes people feel good about themselves. "But if you are looking for someone who is going to hang around, and if they go down making it a long-term project, it would have to be Gus Poyet or Tim Sherwood." Ex- Tottenham midfielder Michael Brown says Spurs' sole focus has to be on preserving their top-flight status. "It's about the team getting results to stay in the Premier League," Brown said. "Any reaction has got to be better than this. "I would say Sean Dyche. Whether it's Tim Sherwood, who has been mentioned, Harry Redknapp, or whoever it will be, somebody is going to get a bounce out of the players, surely." 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