Redknapp: 'Can't write, can't spell, can't fiddle my taxes'

HIS GRASP of football strategy has propelled Spurs to third in the Premier League but Harry Redknapp's literacy skills are, he would have us believe, less impressive. That was the claim from the Tottenham manager at Southwark Crown Court during the fourth day of his trial for defrauding the tax man – a charge he denies.

The court listened to a recording of an interview Redknapp gave to City of London police in June 2009 when he was first questioned about his tax arrangements.

"I'm the most disorganised person I am ashamed to say in the world," said Redknapp. "I can't work a computer, I don't know what an email is, I have never sent a fax and I've never sent a text message... I have a big problem, I can't write, so I don't keep anything. I've never wrote a letter in my life. I couldn't write a letter. I write like a two-year-old and I can't spell."

The allegation facing Redknapp is that while manager of Portsmouth between 2002 and 2004 he opened an offshore account in Monaco named Rosie47 in which £189,000 was deposited to avoid paying income tax and national insurance.

In denying the charges, Redknapp, 64, told police he lacked the savvy to cook up such a scheme. "I'm not into fiddling tax. I pay a fortune to my accountant to look after me. He writes all the cheques for me and my wife. He pays my bills, he runs my life... I don't have wage slips, I have not seen a wage slip in 10 years. I don't even have my wage slips. I don't see bank statements."

Redknapp's incompetence in financial matters is the central plank to his defence and yesterday his counsel, John Kelsey-Fry QC, ridiculed the prosecution's assertion that Redknapp was a canny operator in the business world. In fact, the court was told, many of Redknapp's investments had been disastrous and lost him money.

"I don't want to be rude unnecessarily," said Kelsey-Fry, "but to describe Mr Redknapp as a hard-headed businessman with considerable financial acumen is probably putting it rather high."

Redknapp is back in court today where the case against him and his co-accused, Milan Mandaric, the former Portsmouth chairman, continues. Then he'll dash up the M1 to Vicarage Road to watch Tottenham take on Watford in tonight's FA Cup fourth round tie.

That's if he knows how to read a road map. ·