Redknapp manages Somerset club dubbed worst in the country
Rachel Candlin
BBC News, West of England
Tunley Athletic FC
Redknapp said the team was not “as bad as I expected”
Retired Premier League manager Harry Redknapp has returned to coaching to turn around the fortunes of a team dubbed the worst in the country.
Last season Tunley Athletic finished bottom of the Somerset County League after losing all 26 of their matches – with a 137 goal difference.
Redknapp was brought in to be guest manager after the team won a national Best Worst Team competition.
He said his aim for the season was to “win a couple of games”.
Redknapp will mentor the Somerset non-league team until the end of the season
Redknapp, who managed West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and other top-flight clubs before his retirement in 2017, had never heard of Tunley and got lost on the way to his first coaching session.
“My Sat Nav took me all up country roads. I stopped a guy in the narrowest lane I’ve ever been down,” he told BBC Radio Somerset.
“I said ‘Excuse me mate’… he went ‘It’s Harry Redknapp’, he said, ‘What you doing here?’ and I said ‘I don’t know, I’m still trying to figure it out’.
He said his first game was a difficult one against a top-of-the-league team.
“We played OK, think it finished up about 8-2 we lost but we managed to score a couple of goals, which was encouraging,” Redknapp said.
“They weren’t as bad as I expected, they were ok and most important they were good lads.”
Tunley Athletic FC
“Playing games in front of Harry Redknapp has just been incredible,” Tunley captain Tyler Davis said
Tunley captain Tyler Davis, who nominated the club for the grassroots competition run by Specsavers, said: “It has been the craziest couple of months that anyone involved in the club has ever had.
“Our form had slowly declined over a season or two, and then definitely this season we hit a very, very bad patch.
“We had a 14-nil and a 17-nil, and after that, it was just whatever help we can get we’re gonna have to take it.
“We had an inkling who our manager would be, but we weren’t 100 per cent sure.
“Then we were all in the pub and he opened the door and you just don’t really know what to say as you don’t expect to see someone like that in person.”
Redknapp previously joined former Best Worst Team, Cwm Albion – where he celebrated success.
He is due to mentor Tunley until the end of this season, although he joked that he has his work cut out.
“It certainly a tough job, yeah… I’ve gone from the San Siro, Old Trafford, the Bernabeu, White Hart Lane, ending up at Cwm Albion or Tunley but anyway I’m enjoying it just as much,” he said.
Asked if Tunley had its own Gareth Bale or Paolo Di Canio, Redknapp said: “They must do, I didn’t see him but he must be there somewhere.”
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