So, not a bad seven days for Harry Redknapp. Victory for his Portsmouth team in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday was followed by a more personal triumph at the High Court yesterday, when he was awarded damages and costs against the City of London police, who were found to have raided his home unlawfully last autumn as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.

Redknapp is regarded by those who see him on Match of the Day as a typically chirpy cockney, an endless source of quips and one-liners. But even reporters who see him for only a couple of hours a week know that he can occasionally have “the hump”, while those closer to him attest to darker moods – especially after defeats.

If there is much truth in the hackneyed picture of Redknapp as a typical East Ender, it is in the absolutely central part that family plays in his life. Which was why he regarded the police raid on his house at 6.06am that terrified Sandra, his wife, as utterly unforgiveable.

Redknapp was on his way back from Germany, where he had been watching a match, and Sandra was alone in their palatial property in the Sandbanks area of Poole when police called. The situation was aggravated by the fact that officers were accompanied by photographers from the same daily newspaper to which he contributed a betting column.

It is not long ago that Redknapp lost the father who first took him to watch football at Arsenal, and the Redknapp family was recently shaken by the sudden death of Pat Lampard, his sister-in-law, so today’s verdict will be more a vindication than a consolation. He was arrested at Gatwick Airport later in the day, and he and eight others remain on bail in connection with the continuing investigation, but at least he has obtained justice over the circumstances of the raid.

What cannot be repaired is the timing of the arrest and the consequent damage to his reputation. He had featured in a BBC Panorama investigation into illegal payments – although the programme failed to make any case against him – but was still being touted as the English manager best qualified to succeed Steve McClaren as head coach of the national side when the arrests took place. The groundswell of opinion that was building in his favour ended abruptly.

The idea of leaving Sandra alone for long periods was also one of the factors that prevented Redknapp from accepting an offer to manage Newcastle United – one which tempted him more than was remembered in the immediate afterglow of Portsmouth’s FA Cup win.

It was suggested that a Wembley win, and an overdue first major trophy of a long career might persuade Redknapp to go out on a high, retire and spend more time with Sandra and taking the dogs for a walk. But Redknapp had already suggested that such a move is not on the cards for a while yet when I asked him about the effect of the arrest and the dawn raid during an interview in March.

“It hurts, obviously,” 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. But I didn’t think about packing in football. I wouldn’t.”