Soccer's Redknapp cleared of tax evasion

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has been found not guilty of tax evasion, clearing the way for the popular Spurs coach to succeed Fabio Capello as manager of England.

A relieved Redknapp said his case should never have been brought to court, describing his prosecution as a five-year "nightmare" following his acquittal at Southwark Crown Court.

"I'm looking forward to getting home, and getting away from all this," Redknapp said outside court. "It really has been a nightmare, I've got to be honest. It's been five years and it should never have come to court.

"It's unbelievable really. It was horrendous. But it was unanimous, there was no case to answer. I'm pleased that I can go home."

The most successful English manager currently working in football, Redknapp is regarded as the odds-on favourite to replace England boss Capello later this year with his Spurs side currently third in the Premier League table.

Any guilty verdict against Redknapp would have effectively ended his chances of becoming England boss, a job he has previously said he would be unable to turn down if offered to him.

But Wednesday's acquittal leaves Redknapp free to pursue his dream of managing England. Bookmakers immediately slashed their odds on him taking over from Capello following the verdict.

Former England manager Graham Taylor said a huge obstacle to Redknapp's England hopes had been removed following the court case, which also co-defendant Milan Mandaric cleared of all charges.

"Now that Harry has been proved innocent it makes a clear path should the FA wish in the future to offer him the England manager's job when Fabio Capello comes to the end of his reign," Taylor told the BBC.

A spokesman for Paddy Power bookmakers meanwhile said the case was the only thing preventing Redknapp from taking over when Capello's contract ends after the Euro 2012 campaign.

Now he is not guilty the clamour for Harry to be given 'the second most important job in England' will be enormous," the spokesman said.

By a strange quirk of fate, Capello was meeting FA chiefs at Wembley on Wednesday to discuss his future after he voiced his opposition to the decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy last week.

Redknapp, 64, and Mandaric, 73, had denied two counts of cheating the public revenue by failing to declare $US295,000 ($A273,985) kept in a Monaco bank account.

Prosecutors alleged the money was paid to Redknapp by Mandaric when the two men were manager and owner of Portsmouth respectively as part of a bonus arising from the sale of striker Peter Crouch.

But Redknapp said the money was paid by Mandaric to help with investments in the United States, and that he believed any taxes owing on the amount had already been paid by his chairman.

Redknapp's defence barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC had argued the case against the Spurs boss was "repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness."

Addressing jurors in his closing remarks on Monday, Kelsey-Fry said there was an "inherent absurdity" in the prosecution's reliance on "primarily despicable" evidence gathered by a News of the World reporter.

Lawyers for Mandaric meanwhile argued the prosecution's claim that the money paid into the Monaco account was a bonus "simply doesn't make sense."

"We say the evidence against him is hopelessly weak," Mandaric's barrister Lord MacDonald told the court.

"In Milan Mandaric's mind this was not money for Crouch, this was Milan Mandaric coming through on money he had promised months before - for a portfolio," the barrister said.