Harry Redknapp is taking legal action against City of London Police over his arrest in November in connection with the investigation into alleged corruption in football. The Portsmouth manager is furious that, in his absence, police officers, accompanied by photographers from a national newspaper, raided his home in Sandbanks, Dorset, at 6am, disturbing his wife, Sandra.

Redknapp was detained at Gatwick later on the same day when he returned from watching a Champions League match in Germany. Although he remains on bail he has started proceedings against the force in the Administrative Court at the High Courts of Justice in London, where the legality of actions by public bodies, including the police, is investigated.

Last month he spoke to The Times about his memories of that day and hinted that he would take matters farther. “It hurts,” he said. “It hurts bad. It was disgusting what was done to me, absolutely disgusting. I won’t ever forget it and it’s not going to finish there because I’m not going to let it finish.”

The court has confirmed that Redknapp and his wife have lodged a joint action and hope to gain a judicial review of the police’s decision to obtain a warrant to raid the couple’s home and to arrest and bail Redknapp. The first hearing will be held on May 2. A City of London Police press officer said that the force would not comment on the action.

The inquiry is believed to centre on Portsmouth’s signing of Amdy Faye from Auxerre for £1.5 million four years ago. After his arrest Redknapp was confident that he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. “We all helped the police with their inquiries, but it doesn’t directly concern me,” he said. “It’s other people involved. I think that’s the end of it.”

Redknapp and Peter Storrie, the Portsmouth chief executive, were among five men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. The others were Milan Mandaric, the former Portsmouth chairman and now Leicester City owner, Willie McKay, a high-profile agent, and Faye, who is on loan to Rangers from Charlton Athletic.

Portsmouth’s preparations for the FA Cup Final next month are in danger of being overshadowed. According to a source close to the investigation, Redknapp and Storrie have been asked to return to Chichester police station to answer bail next month. Portsmouth play Cardiff City at Wembley on May 17.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with police inquiries, most recently David Sullivan, the co-owner of Birmingham City, and Karren Brady, the club’s chief executive. Sullivan has described the investigation as “a huge waste of police time and money” and is furious that he and Brady have been dragged into an affair that he believes centres on the allegations not connected with the club.

“They started off looking for bungs,” Sullivan said. “Having found none, they’re now looking for anything to justify their time. There is no suggestion that anybody at Birmingham had any improper payments. We would urge whoever is allocating police time to look at this. It is a huge, huge waste of time and money.”