Some might say Redknapp was ‘under pressure’. But having survived in 1990 a car crash in which five people were killed and just recently seen his wife, Sandra, lose her twin sister Pat, the mother of Frank Lampard, to pneumonia last month, Redknapp has a better sense of perspective than many within soccer. Not that he is not keen to win at Wembley.
Having turned down an offer earlier this season to manage Newcastle United, a “big” team in every respect bar winning trophies, Redknapp would love nothing more than to become the first English manager since Everton’s Joe Royle in 1995 to lift the FA Cup.
“It would be nice to put on a performance in the final, but it’s more important to win,” Redknapp said.
And he dismissed suggestions a win today would be the ideal note on which to retire, citing the example of 66-year-old Sir Alex Ferguson, whose Manchester United team Pompey dramatically defeated 1-0 in the quarter-finals.
“He’s a lesson to us all. I want to go on as long as him and I don’t see why I can’t. I’ve got a good team, good players and thoroughly enjoy working at this club,” he said.
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