On Thursday night, as he made his way to a stadium in Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp fell victim to a mugging by Spanish thieves.
The 63-year-old was confronted by a group of six men while walking toward the Vicente Calderon stadium in the heart of the Spanish capital.
As he strolled outside the stadium, two men knelt before him, grabbing at his trousers to divert his attention.
While he was preoccupied, the other four thieves took the opportunity to rummage through his pockets, stealing his cash and credit cards.
Though Mr. Redknapp also had his passport and mobile phone with him, they were not taken.
He was in Madrid to observe a potential transfer target, accompanied by his assistant manager, Kevin Bond.
Reflecting on the incident today, Mr. Redknapp recounted, ‘I’m walking around outside the stadium, enjoying the fantastic atmosphere with all the little stalls selling sweets.’
‘Kevin and I got some sweets, and the crowd was really packed. Suddenly, two guys got down on their knees in front of me, and I felt someone tugging at my overcoat.’
‘I thought to myself, ‘What’s going on?’ and didn’t initially pay attention. Before I knew it, those two guys were still on their knees, pulling at my trousers.’
‘I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ and next thing I see is one of them dropping my keys on the ground.’
‘I was torn between whether to knee him in the face or what.’
‘And I thought, ‘Is he blind or just having trouble walking? What are these two guys up to?”
‘I’m saying, ‘Let go of my trousers’ while pushing them away. In the meantime, they rifled through my pockets—there were around six of them. And then they just took off.’
‘Confused, I went to check my pockets and realized what had happened.’
‘They took everything—my money, credit cards—just everything.’
The Tottenham manager chose not to report the crime to the police and ended up borrowing money from Kevin Bond to catch a taxi back to their hotel and pay for dinner the previous night before heading back to the UK.
He admitted feeling unsettled by the incident, leaving the stadium 15 minutes before the match concluded.
He suspects the attackers were unaware of who their target was.
‘They likely didn’t know who I was, but they certainly had a successful day, that’s for sure,’ said Redknapp, who was also scouting a transfer target during the game.
‘I wasn’t dressed in anything flashy—just my overcoat. I probably just looked naive or something, and they thought, ‘Here’s an easy mark, he’s not local, and we’re looking for a foreigner.’
‘Meanwhile, they were likely enjoying the best wine and steak in the restaurant we were at. Kevin and I could barely afford a glass of wine.’
Redknapp humorously suggested that Mr. Bond might have been in on the theft.
‘I can’t help but wonder what Kevin was up to while it all happened,’ Redknapp remarked.
‘He said, ‘I saw them doing it.’ And I replied, ‘Then why didn’t you intervene? That’s a bit strange, Kev.’ I really hope he wasn’t part of the gang! He seemed to have some money on him today.’
by Terence Johns
