By Ollie Irish
Harry Redknapp has revealed that Tottenham were bullied, effectively, by Manchester City when the two clubs were involved in a bidding war for Wales striker Craig Bellamy.
“They blow you out of the water,” Redknapp said. “We tried to sign Bellamy and, at the time, we were after Wilson Palacios as well.
“They [Man City] said: ‘If you don’t drop out of Bellamy, we’re going to sign Palacios. We’re interested in Palacios. But if you pull out of Bellamy, we’ll pull out of Palacios and then we both get a player.’
“They wanted Bellamy badly. It was when Mark Hughes was there, and obviously he was close to Bellamy – the Welsh connection. They were desperate for Bellamy. We were having a bidding war on Bellamy over the fee.
“So we had no choice really. They just said ‘We’ll blow you out of the water’. They’ve got the backing, they’ve got the clout to do that, they can do it if they want somebody.”
I find it strange that Arry would make such an admission on the eve of Tottenham’s massive game at Eastlands – winding up the opposition is rarely a shrewd thing to do. But it’s an interesting admission, and proof that City’s disproportionate spending power is worrying the rest of the Premier League.