Former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp says calling England boss Thomas Tuchel “a German spy” was a “joke” that “badly backfired”.

Redknapp made the comment about the German manager when speaking at a charity event last month and also appeared to make a Nazi salute.

Appearing on Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Al Arabiya News in an interview broadcast on Wednesday, Redknapp was discussing England having a foreign manager in Tuchel when the presenter said: “A German spy as you said..”

The ex-Portsmouth, Tottenham and West Ham manager replied: “No, don’t go there. Oh my god, it was a joke, you know, that badly backfired. But it was only a joke.”

Former Chelsea manager Tuchel officially started his England role in January and led them to World Cup qualifying wins over Albania and Latvia in his first two games in charge.

Redknapp, 78, was speaking in front of an audience at an event in London before those matches and was asked for his thoughts on the German.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think he’s a German spy. I’m telling you,” Redknapp is seen saying in a video clip obtained by the Guardian., external

“Seriously, he’s been sent over to [expletive] us up. He has. I’m telling ya, he’s like Lord Haw Haw in the war – ‘We have your best soldiers captured’ and all that.”

William Joyce, known as Lord Haw-Haw, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK during World War Two.

Redknapp also imagined an instruction given to Tuchel to “go over and ruin that team”.

And he appeared to make a Nazi salute gesture as he made the comments to the audience, who were laughing.