Mandaric: I had love-hate friendship with Redknapp

Milan Mandaric said he agreed to pay £4.2 million a year to his “special guy” before their relationship led to “a bitter divorce”.

Mandaric told jurors: “In 35 years in football, I never had a closer relationship as a manager than I had with Harry.”

When asked about their relationship, he said: “Do you mean when I strangled him or when I love him?”

Mandaric said the £189,000 deposits for Redknapp in a Monaco bank account was “something entirely different” from football.

Redknapp, of Poole, Dorset, and Mandaric, from Oadby, Leicestershire, both deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when Redknapp was manager of Portsmouth FC.

Mandaric told Southwark Crown Court, London: “I want to do something special for Harry because he means more to me than a football manager. This was something as a friend.”

The payments were “something special for my friend …That’s all I wanted to do”.

He added: “I want to make it absolutely clear that it was completely away from his duties, his bonuses, his salaries.”

Redknapp joined Portsmouth – initially as a director of football – in 2001, before Mandaric asked him to take on managerial responsibilities.

Mandaric said his relationship with Redknapp “started to go a little bit uncomfortable” amid frustration over fees being paid to agents.

He also said he lost more than £10 million in one year from investments.

Redknapp and Mandaric did not speak for a year when the manager joined Southampton in 2004, jurors heard.

“We didn’t speak, it was a little bit of a bitter divorce,” Mandaric said.

The court was adjourned until tomorrow.