Redknapp: I was keeping Saints hot seat warm

Harry Redknapp has revealed he walked out on Southampton because he felt he was living on borrowed time.

The former Portsmouth boss wanted to speak to Pompey about returning to fill their managerial vacancy and once Saints chairman Rupert Lowe refused permission Redknapp felt his position was untenable.

However, pointedly, he said he felt he was “keeping the hotseat warm” for someone else.

“I felt once I told Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe I wanted to speak to Portsmouth I had burned my bridges at Southampton,” he told BBC Sport.

“Once I’ve said that I can’t go back there. It was impossible to go back. Their people wouldn’t want me back at the club. I understand that.

“I felt, to be honest, that I was only keeping the hotseat warm for somebody else. I had no future there and I would have liked the opportunity to speak to Portsmouth.

“If they (Southampton) can’t do a deal with Portsmouth then I’m left in limbo and I will have to accept that.”

Redknapp joined Southampton just a fortnight after leaving Portsmouth just over a year ago following a fall-out with Pompey chairman Milan Mandaric, who brought in Velimir Zajec to oversee football matters as an executive director.

However, he believes he would be able to return and resume his working relationship with the Serb businessman.

“We had a fall-out but I had a fantastic time there. It was the time of my life,” he added.

“Milan has shown a lot of courage to try to get me back there – but whether it comes off is another matter.”

Lowe put assistant Dave Bassett in temporary charge of the team for today’s match against Burnley after he spoke to Redknapp last night and became aware of his feelings.

The situation has done nothing to improve relations between the south-coast rivals and Lowe is threatening to report the matter to the Premier League.

He said: “As far as I am concerned even if there has not been a breach of rules there has been a breach of courtesy and basic good manners.

“On Wednesday, November 30 I was contacted by Dennis Roach (a football agent) who told me that I was likely to receive a request from Portsmouth to allow them to speak to Harry about their managerial vacancy.

“It’s not often that I am lost for words but I was then. Not only because this is the most extraordinary story in an extraordinary industry but because I believed Harry to be here for the long term.

“On Thursday I spoke to Harry, who told me that he had been considering his future and that he believed Portsmouth to be his ‘spiritual home’.”

The Saints chairman informed Portsmouth director Peter Storrie he would not grant permission to approach Redknapp unless Southampton were paid “the unexpired portion of Harry’s contract which is the usual convention in these circumstances”.

Lowe added: “I was promised an answer which to date has never come.

“I spoke to Harry again late on Friday night to agree arrangements for the important game against Burnley.

“Harry said that it was now impossible for him to come back to the club and that, in his words, he had been let down.

“He told me that he regarded his employment with the club as being at an end and that we would deal with the necessary paperwork at the beginning of next week.”

Lowe, who will attend today’s post-match press conference, continued: “I find it extraordinary that officials of Portsmouth Football Club should have made some of the public statements that they did yesterday about a Southampton employee, particularly as I have had no formal conclusion to our discussions.”

Club director Andrew Cowen said: “Gobsmacked is too small a word. You don’t even get a plot like this in Star Wars.”