Redknapp in relegation admission tells Southampton how to bounce back

“I know Pompey fans called me agent Harry but I didn’t try to get Southampton relegated, things just kept going against us and against us,” he insisted, in a well-humoured attempt to win support.

Redknapp’s visit to SO comes just days after the club’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed, although that was not a deliberate decision.

The last time Saints were knocked out of the Premier League was under the former Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur man’s stewardship in 2005 – he returned to Fratton Park soon after.

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READ MORE: How Southampton's ideal starting XI should look in the Championship

The FA Cup winner is still football royalty across the country, regardless of what we think of him down here, and he has been watching some of Saints from afar.

“I just feel that they have gone a little bit tame, it’s been on the cards. They had Bournemouth and could have beaten them at home to give themselves a chance to stay up,” he told the Daily Echo.

“But they’ve got beat and got beat and got beat, it’s a shame. I saw a Southampton fan this morning when I was having a coffee.

“He said at the start of the season, beating Chelsea, playing fantastic – you could never believe they would get relegated. And the Man City cup game.

“I watched that on the TV and they were fantastic that night. Obviously, they can do better than they did in the end,” Redknapp insisted.

The 76 year old then follows it with a claim that will almost certainly not win back the 2005 witnesses, admitting: “I’d have liked to see Nathan Jones have a bit longer.

“I know it wasn’t a popular decision among the fans to bring him in but he’s got great enthusiasm and did a fantastic job at Luton. Given time, they might not have gone down.”

Jones deserved another big opportunity for the work he had done with Luton Town from League Two to Championship playoffs.

Rob Edwards, his successor, has kept the good times rolling at Kenilworth Road and the Hatters are now one win away from leapfrogging Saints and reaching the top flight.

Redknapp misses the buzz of management and is inspired by the likes of Roy Hodgson and Neil Warnock having success from their returns with Crystal Palace and Huddersfield respectively.

He is open in admitting he would seriously consider a job opportunity if one came his way. A return to St Mary’s is likely out of the question (although he claims he did know just how strong the hatred was between his two most recent south coast clubs) but he sees the merit in the job for the right candidate.

“It’s still a good job, great youth facilities and training ground, good stadium – it’s all in place for somebody to come in here and get them back to the Premier League,” he insists.

“They’ve got a rebuilding job to do. It has changed, when I look back at Portsmouth I got tried and tested players to get us out of the Championship.

“You haven’t always got to go abroad for your players, you need good professionals and could do with a James Milner or somebody – I know he’s going to Brighton.

“Someone like that, go and get three or four players who you can rely on in the dressing room. Leaders are out there, it might be players you only get a year out of.”

Redknapp certainly knows what it used to take to get out of the Championship, having guided those down the road to a top-flight return for the first time in 15 years in 2003.

And he is not alone in wondering if Saints have become a little muddled in their thinking. The squad size bloated to over 30 senior players in the first year under Sport Republic.

There was an air of desperation over the club’s recruitment – Sport Republic CEO Rasmus Ankersen calling on former acquaintances to sign the likes of Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana.

Mislav Orsic, another one of the five January incomings, is going to leave the club with just six minutes in the Premier League – £1.33million in transfer fee per minute.

“I’m a big James Ward-Prowse fan, I think he’s an outstanding player and character. But it is different now,” Redknapp said.

“I don’t even know half the players to be honest with you. It’s a lot of players who have come in from other countries.

“The dressing room is the most important thing, people you can rely on who want to do a good job – they run the show.”

He added: “Jurgen Klopp relies on Jordan Henderson, James Milner. Jose Mourinho at Chelsea had John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.

“It’s an easy job when you’ve got good professionals policing the dressing room. They could do with a few more Ward-Prowse-type players, the recruitment has got to be all important.”

By the end of the season, Saints had Ward-Prowse, Theo Walcott, Willy Caballero, Jan Bednarek and – to an extent – the likes of Kyle Walker-Peters and Che Adams in the player leadership group.

There is a reasonable fear that every single one of those leaves this summer. The job of incoming director of football Jason Wilcox and his recruiters goes beyond finding tangible qualities.

Redknapp is a famed wheeler and dealer but even he cannot just come up with the names Saints might need to begin their rebuild.

“They’ve got to scour the market,” he said. “(Craig) Dawson at West Ham – what a signing he was, a winner and a leader. That’s what Southampton are short and that’s what they’ve got to find.

“Come and get us out of this league and then we can start to rebuild with some youngsters hopefully. They’ve always produced good kids here at Southampton, an incredible run.

“But when you keep selling your best players as they have done, it does get more difficult.”