Harry Redknapp the Media Darling and Portsmouth Transfer Countertalk

"Who, Me!? Never!" Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp says in the above photograph.

In the media today, the "wonderful" Harry Redknapp told the Sunday Telegraph that he won't be raiding Portsmouth for any more former players, as he doesn't want to be "disrespectful."

He didn't mind, however, mentioning that he could have brought Glen Johnson to Tottenham if he wanted. But no. He wouldn't do that. He's a class-act and would never hurt a club he holds so "dear."

"I would have gone back and taken Glen Johnson but I didn't want to get involved and cause problems," Redknapp said.

I can't even stop the eyes rolling into the back of my head right now. 

Are you serious, Mr. Redknapp? Do you really expect that the media and everyone who reads these reports thinks that you aren't buying more of our players simply because you don't want to cause trouble for Portsmouth?

No, Mr. Redknapp. The fact of the matter is that Portsmouth Football Club are not in the dire condition that you and the media often like to report, but rather, simply had no interest in letting a quality player like Johnson leave when he didn't have any interest in joining your lot.

And it was the same for the reports with Liverpool's supposed £9 million move for Johnson.

Plenty of the papers simply decided to disregard the statements that Portsmouth themselves made, clearly stating that talks were in an advanced stage for Johnson signing a new deal with the club.

And then Redknapp goes on to say that the reason he bought striker Jermain Defoe was because "[Portsmouth] wanted to sell Defoe."

Contrary, of course, to this, this, this, and plenty of other statements the club and manager Tony Adams made over the course of the past several months.

In truth, Redknapp's conduct throughout the Defoe transfer saga was absolutely appalling. He spent more than a month doing nothing but talking about how he was interested in Defoe, he won't pay too much, etc., and the media love him for it.

Meanwhile, all because Tony Adams is unwilling to talk about who he is interested in and that the club are up for sale, there is constant speculation that Portsmouth have no money to spend and won't bring in anyone. And of course, everyone else is going to leave.

Next, they'll be speculating that Kev the Kitman is going to be replacing Defoe as Crouch's striking partner and that we've had to sell the roof we added over the Milton End to pay him.

Even goalkeeper David James has expressed his bemusement at how the media are constantly speculating that everyone is leaving and that no one is coming in, but the media use his comments out of context.

"In recent times we've gone from relegation dodgers to FA Cup winners playing in Europe—that's the kind of ambitious club most people want to join, not leave...but anyone reading the headlines would be led into thinking otherwise," James wrote in his column in The Observer.

And with the way some in the media portray the club, you would think that the speculation linking Scott Brown, Edu, Joey Barton, Aruna Dindane, Gary O'Neil, Christian Odobo, Benjani, and others with moves to Fratton Park was non-existent.

This may be startling to some, but Tony Adams is primarily interested in strengthening the midfield and finding a replacement for Defoe.

We don't need to be signing an entirely new squad.

Just because he isn't following Redknapp in signing every player under the sun doesn't mean that Pompey aren't going to make moves in the window.

All of this, of course, comes from Harry Redknapp's status as one of the media's favorite managers. Ol' Harry loves his time with the media, and is only happy to indulge them with constant rumors and speculation.

And the media, of course, repay his willingness to talk by portraying him as the savior of football...and in particular, Portsmouth Football Club.

Practically some of the only negative things that have ever happened to him in the media were his recent "arrest incidents" in the football bungs scandal.

But those were quickly swept under the rug.

So, in closing, it isn't all doom-and-gloom in Portsmouth at all. While we're struggling a bit in the league, there are plenty of clubs in far worse situations than our own.

Harry Redknapp did a great deal for our club in the past by keeping us up in our "great escape" season two years back and certainly in winning the FA Cup, but he did no more than owner Sacha Gaydamak has done for the club.