Harry Redknapp is playing a familiar tune to disown Birmingham’s blues | Daniel Taylor

Birmingham’s owners brought the points deduction on themselves with some preposterous decisions. But why do these things keep happening to Harry?

Harry Redknapp used to tell a story, going back to his days as the manager of West Ham, that probably sums up why so many people within the industry, even those who are fond of his ways, usually take the policy that he can be pretty brazen sometimes when it comes to blurring the lines between the truth and, well, the other bits.

It goes back to the days when Slaven Bilic was a player at the club and had a buyout clause in his contract that allowed him to leave for £2.5m. Bilic had become disillusioned playing for a struggling team, where there was no money for elite signings, and went to see Redknapp one day to say he had been told Spurs wanted to pay the release fee.