Redknapp in threat over bungs claim

Football boss Harry Redknapp threatened to “sue the bollocks” off a journalist as he angrily denied taking bungs, a court heard today.

The Tottenham manager also said Milan Mandaric “don’t know what he is f****** talking about” in a 2009 telephone conversation with a News of the World reporter.

In short extracts read out to a jury at Southwark Crown Court, Redknapp told Rob Beasley he had “the best accountants in England”, claiming the Inland Revenue was fully aware of his dealings in Monaco.

Beasley spoke to Redknapp days after a telephone interview with former Portsmouth chairman Mandaric.

When Beasley described how Mandaric said the money sent to Redknapp’s offshore accounts were investments outside football, the Tottenham manager replied: “He don’t know what he is f****** talking about. What is he talking about? It is a bonus.”

Explaining that the payments surrounded profit made on the sale of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth to Aston Villa, Redknapp added: “If it was something dodgy I would have gone over there and brought it back in a briefcase.”

When Beasley asked him whether he had paid any tax in the UK on it, Redknapp replied: “Haven’t been asked to, Rob.”

Redknapp said “there ain’t nothing crooked in it” as the telephone conversation went on, the court heard.

“Don’t say bung,” Redknapp said. “It’s nothing to do with a bung. It’s paid by the chairman.

“How can it be a bung when the chairman of the football club paid me?”

He added: “What’s a bung? It’s a f****** sick word.”

According to the transcript, he told Mandaric: “I don’t want to have a problem with the tax man.”

“They was aware of it from day one,” he added.

When asked about the bonus clause in his contract, Redknapp said: “My accountant has got my contract ... I’m not going to f****** show you.”

He added: “The Inland Revenue know all about it. I’ve got nothing to defend, Rob.

“I ain’t done nothing wrong ... I ain’t done nothing wrong, Rob. I got paid a bonus ... everyone is aware of it.”

He later added: “Everyone knows about it, there ain’t nothing crooked in it.”