C’mon ‘Arry break out in a smile now!
Harry Redknapp’s been found to be as clean as a whistle. The three week trial which took place at Southwark crown courts came to an end as both Redknapp and his former Pompey boss, Milan Mandaric were cleared of tax evasion charges with the prosecution building their case around the Peter Crouch sale which involved two transfer amounts totaling £189,000. Redknapp and Mandaric were charged with not disclosing bonuses related to the sale which would have been subject to taxation.
The conclusion was that the money given by Mandaric was not job related and the first amount given was “seed money” to help his former manager capitalize from profitable investments. The second amount transferred to Redknapp’s Monaco account reflected Mandaric’s embarrassment at his friend losing money on his bad advice in the stock market.
Redknapp might rue that this case ever came to trial but at least in his case, he’s been proven innocent and can now go forward with his ambitions to be England manager without a cloud over his head. In fact, it might happen sooner than later depending on whether the FA can arrest the growing rift between them and Fabio Capello over John Terry, whose racial abuse case should have gone to trial.