On this day in 2004: Harry Redknapp appointed Southampton manager

Harry Redknapp was appointed manager of Southampton, two weeks after leaving his job at Portsmouth, on this day in 2004.

The 57-year-old had quit Saints’ south-coast rivals claiming he needed a break from the game.

Redknapp took over from Steve Wigley, who had managed just one win in 14 league games – ironically over Pompey – and with the club third from bottom in the Premiership.

Redknapp left Portsmouth after chairman Milan Mandaric brought in executive director Velimir Zajec.

He turned Pompey from a club struggling in the lower reaches of the Championship to a mid-table Premiership team in two-and-a-half years.

Fratton Park director Terry Brady called Redknapp’s move along the south coast “the highest betrayal possible”.

But the former Bournemouth and West Ham boss was unable to keep Southampton up as the club’s 27-year spell in the top flight came to an end.

Redknapp left St Mary’s the following December and promptly returned to Portsmouth, where he won the FA Cup in 2008.