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Former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp says calling England boss Thomas Tuchel “a German spy” was a “joke” that “badly backfired”.<\/b><\/p>\n
Redknapp made the comment<\/a> about the German manager when speaking at a charity event last month and also appeared to make a Nazi salute.<\/p>\n 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..”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n “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 \u2013 ‘We have your best soldiers captured’ and all that.”<\/p>\n William Joyce, known as Lord Haw-Haw, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK during World War Two.<\/p>\n Redknapp also imagined an instruction given to Tuchel to “go over and ruin that team”.<\/p>\n And he appeared to make a Nazi salute gesture as he made the comments to the audience, who were laughing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n