There is some decency left in football

HARRY Redknapp has acquired a reputation over the years of being a chancer. A wheeler-dealer and a bit of a Jack The Lad.
He comes from East London - as does Terry Venables, who has a similar reputation - where being street-wise is essential for survival.
But Harry's cheeky-chappie image often masks a shrewd football manager who is much admired by his peers. His chances of becoming the England manager were ruined when the Old Bill came knocking on his door with an arrest warrant. Harry pleaded his innocence, not for the first time, and we wait to see if any charges will follow. Don't hold your breath.
At 60, Harry had to accept that his career as one of our most charasmatic football managers would end at Pompey, a club with a great history but not what your would call a massive one. Nevertheless, the boy from Poplar, with the millionaire's lifestyle,done well.
And then Sam Allardyce got that sack at Newcastle, definitely a massive club despite their pathetic track record over the years.
Suddenly Harry is back in the news again and definitely in the frame for Big Sam's job. Harry cancels his usual Friday Press conference and we are told he is talking to Newcastle. Friends in football are reported to be urging him to accept the job. It would be his last chance to manage a big club and his exciting form of attacking football would certainly go down well on Tyneside.
There's talk of a £20 million four-year contract, not that Harry needs the money. He's richer than most of the chairman he has worked for.
The talk of the Toon is that Harry is on his way to St James' Park with the offer of a private jet so he could commute from the South Coast and his wonderful Sandbanks mansion on a daily basis.
Ironically, Pompey were due in the North East for their game against Sunderland but it was reported that Joe Jordan would be in charge of the team.
And then on Saturday morning Harry announces that he has decided to stay at Pompey. In an interview with the BBC he explained that he could not leave Portsmouth because he had been treated so well by supporters and had sold the club to his new signings. He even persuaded one player not to go to Newcastle. From the Newcastle camp came rumours that Harry was their first choice but they cooled when he insisted on commuting on a daily basis.
BBC pundits were asked who they now thought who would get the job and at least one said they still thought Harry Redknapp could be persuaded.
I hope not. Football desperately needs some decency - and I still think Harry's a decent bloke.
It wouldn't be the first time Harry has changed his mind mid-season but I hope he sticks to his decision and stays on the South Coast where he is hero worshipped.
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes is now the firm favourite although support is building for a dramatic return to St James' Park by their former boss and hero Kevin Keegan.
The Newcastle jon could well be a poison challace in view of the unrealistic expectations of the Newcastle fans, but egos are so big in football management that it won't be long before the new boss will be unveiled.

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A RARE free Saturday from work and I was hoping to watch my home town club Lyme Regis in their Dorset Intermediate Cup match at Crossways. But heavy rain on Friday all but wiped out the local football programme so with my mate Dave Reed we popped up to Dorchester to see the Magpies in their FA Trophy tie against the people's club Ebbsfleet United.
Dorchester pulled off the result of the first round by knocking out holders Stevenage and there was a decent crowd to see if they could inflict another shock.
Having recently met Dorchester's new owner, the quiet spoken property developer Eddie Mitchell, I've started to take an interest in Dorchester. Director football Shaun Br0ooks, the former Bournemouth midfielder, is taking a back seat at the moment due to illness and Paul Compton has taken over the day-today running of the young Magpies.
They are fighting for their lives in the Blue Square South Division but have shown enough spirit in recent games to get themselves out of trouble.
But there was no fairytale ending against their Blue Square Premier opponents, formerly Gravesend and Northfleet, a club now owned and influenced by the fans, who won 2-0. The Magpies made a game of it but lacked aggression, particularly upfront.
Having spent ten years as chairman of Lyme Regis FC and watching local football, it's a pleasant change getting the chance to experience as a spectator a higher standard of football. Not so much fun, of course, but Eddie Mitchell has big plans for the club and I wish him well. It clearly won't happen overnight - but he knows that.
Eddie's son Tom is on the playing staff at The Avenue and came on for a few minutes as a sub and looked to be a half decent player. It can't be easy playing for a club owned by your dad and he will have to work that little bit harder to be taken seriously.
Eddie was in the stand, as usual, with his family, grandchildren and all. He's a very unassuming owner, queuing up for a cupper with the rest of us.

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THREE sporting books for Christmas - Bobby Charlton's "My Manchester United Years", Ian Wooldridge's "Searching For Heroes" and West Ham United's "The Managers" written by my great friend and Hammers' fanatic Tony McDonald.
Daily Mail columnist Ian Wooldridge was one of my journalistic heroes, the best sports writer of all time, and it took me just a few days to read the book featuring 50 years of his sporting encounters. Wooldridge, whocontinued writing his column right up to his death, interviewed all the sporting greats and also showed considerable courage himself by toboganning down the Cresta run and running with the bulls in Pamplona several times.
Although not a West Ham supporter -it's my second favourite club - I have a great interest in the East London club because I was once publisher of its official magazine, "Hammers News". The book is a fascinating account of West Ham's 11 managers from Syd King to Alan Curbishley.
I'm actually featured in the book (page 195). Tony recalls an incident during West Ham's ill-fated bond scheme when an irate fan assumed I was a West Ham official. All the Hammers News team wore claret blazers at the time. This guy, dressed in a sweat-stained vest and with WHU tattooed on his lip, was looking for a fight and I had no intention of taking him on. But we did spill out onto the street from the Bolelyn pub after the game where my driver sprung into action and knocked the guy spark out. When he came round he realised we were not club officials and became my new best friend, insisting that I spent the rest of the evening drinking hard liquor, as he had been in a headlock.
Even if you're not a die-hard West Ham fan, this is a book worth reading as it paints a picture of how football used to be managed in the days before money ruined the beautiful game.
Bobby Charlton was my boyhood hero and I haven't started his autobiography yet. The true gentleman of football, haunted by the Munich air disaster which wiped out a generation of great footballers, Charlton, helped by another Fleet Street giant, James Lawton, writes about his years from a Busby Babe through to European Cup glory with the world's greatest football club.
I know when I start to read it I won't be able to put it down so I'm going to wait until I have time for a marathon read.