Somewhere between the starter and his main, Harry Redknapp changed his mind and decided that moving north to take charge of Newcastle United was more than he could stomach. Redknapp chewed the fat over with Frank Lampard Sr and his wife, Pat, at a restaurant and chose to remain at Portsmouth.

Perhaps fortune favoured him as he visits St James’ Park for the first time since that decision tomorrow, now in charge of Tottenham Hotspur. Newcastle, up for sale and with little money to spend on players, have been managed by three people since he turned down their offer nearly a year ago.

In the aftermath, his biggest annoyance was being labelled a “bottler” for not taking the challenge of a big club. “I have always taken challenges on — who else would be stupid enough to leave Portsmouth for Southampton and then go back again?” Redknapp said. “Only me. I didn’t need to prove anything. It irritated me what people said because I’ve always taken on challenges at struggling clubs.”

So when Tottenham approached him in October, he felt that he also wanted to make people eat their words. They had two points, but have dug their way out of the relegation zone after picking up 17. “I had turned it down once [],” he said. “I left a good job and might still only have had eight points and been bang in trouble. I was absolutely nailed on to go to Newcastle. But it was just a big upheaval at that stage of my life — living up north and moving away — with the wife and dogs. It was a quality of life decision. I was 20 minutes from the training ground, not like now, leaving home at 5.30 every morning.”

Redknapp welcomed the appointment of Joe Kinnear at Newcastle and believes that he should be named permanent manager. “I was surprised when he got the job, everybody was surprised,” he said. “He has gone in with a bit of common sense and turned it around. It shows that clubs don’t need to keep getting foreign managers because half of them ain’t no good. We give them jobs and they are all supposed to be so clever. I left Portsmouth with a great team four years ago and when I went back they were nearly relegated. The foreign managers are not all so clever. Plenty of good British people can do the job.”