Former Premier League manager Harry Redknap says calling England boss Thomas Touchel “a German spy” was a “joking joke” that “backfired badly.”
Redknapp commented on the German manager when speaking at a charity event last month, and also appeared to be giving Nazi salutes.
Rednap, who appeared in an interview with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Al Arabia News on Wednesday, said the presenter said, “As you said, German spy.
The former Portsmouth, Tottenham and West Ham manager said, “No, don’t go there. Ah, what a god, that was a joke, it backfired badly. But it was a joke.”
Former Chelsea manager Tuchel officially began his England role in January, leading him to the World Cup qualifiers, which qualified Albania and Latvia in the first two games.
Rednap, 78, spoke in front of an audience at an event in London before those matches, and was asked to give him his thoughts on German.
“I’ll be honest with you, I think he’s a German spy. I’m telling you,” Rednap says in a video clip obtained by The Guardian.
“Seriously, he was sent to [expletive] We. He has it. I’m telling YA, he’s like Ho Ho Lord in the war – “We’ve got your best soldiers captured” and more.
William Joyce, known as the Hoho Lord, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK during World War II.
Rednap also envisioned the instructions given to Tuchel to “defeat and ruin that team.”
And when he commented to the laughing audience, he appeared to make a Nazi salute gesture.
