Soccer: Smith questions Redknapp departure

Derby boss Jim Smith believes there is more to Harry Redknapp’s shock departure from West Ham than meets the eye.

Smith says he reacted with ‘‘pure shock’’ when he received a phone call yesterday informing him that Redknapp was going to leave Upton Park.

‘‘The report said he’d left by mutual consent but I’ve been in the game long enough to know that’s just football jargon and I’m sure there’s something else behind this,’’ Smith told the website bigfanof.com.

‘‘I think that part of my shock at the news stems from the feedback I got from Harry when he played them recently.

‘‘He was telling me that he was concerned about the team’s form and just wanted to secure Premiership status and then build on it during the summer break there was certainly no indication that his job might be under threat.’’

Smith believes Redknapp deserved credit for his fine work at Upton Park, despite the current season in which their initial promise waned and they only made mathematically sure of avoiding relegation last weekend.

Redknapp has brought through stars like Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Frank Lampard as well as seeing calculated gambles on the likes of Paolo di Canio and Stuart Pearce pay off handsomely.

Smith added: ‘‘Harry did a fantastic job at West Ham and he wasn’t the Premiership’s second longest-serving manager for no reason.

‘‘He’s always maintained that West Ham would be his last job in management and I don’t know if he’ll stick to that or not. What I do know is that Harry’s young enough to bounce back and get a decent job in the game if he wants to because he did a fantastic job at West Ham.’’