Redknapp: Smith my ‘best-ever signing’

“Jim was an amazing character. Everybody who came into contact with Jim absolutely loved him.”

Harry Redknapp has paid tribute to Jim Smith, describing his former assistant manager at Portsmouth as his “best-ever signing”.

Smith, who managed Derby, QPR, Oxford and Pompey during a 39-year managerial career, died on Tuesday aged 79.

He led Portsmouth to an FA Cup semi-final in 1992 before he returned to Fratton Park to work alongside Redknapp between 2002-04.

“Jim was an amazing character. Everybody who came into contact with Jim absolutely loved him, would have loads of stories to tell about him,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News.

“For me he was probably my best-ever signing. I took him to Portsmouth when I took over as manager.

“I rung up Jim, who had been a previous and very successful manager at Portsmouth. Bit cheeky really. He wasn’t an assistant, he was a manager and I didn’t even say be my assistant.

“I said, Jim, do you want to come here and work with me? He said, ‘Harry, I would love to, I loved my time at Portsmouth, loved the club’. He came back with me and we had a great time.”

Redknapp also says Smith, whose career highlights were a League Cup final appearance with QPR in 1986 and promotion to the Premier League with Derby in 1996, was a “loveable character”.

The ex-West Ham, Portsmouth and Tottenham boss recalls first getting to know Smith when he was in charge at Colchester and while he led Bournemouth at the start of his own managerial career.

“I always ended up in his office after a game having a glass of wine, a laugh and a chat. [He was] great company,” Redknapp added.

“His knowledge of the game was incredible and he was just a fantastic guy.”

Redknapp recalls how he viewed working with Smith as being “a team”.

“The crowd used to sing ‘Harry and Jim’ and they would sing it for ages,” he said.

“It was just an amazing time in Jim’s life and mine. I loved every minute of it.”

Redknapp added: “[I have a] million memories of him. Chris Kamara came into our office with Sky Sports one day to do an interview and he said, ‘we are going to go into the inner sanctum, Harry is with Jim and they will be preparing there set-plays’.

“Kamara walked into my little old office at Fratton Park and there are me and Jim reading the Racing Post, picking our horses for the afternoon. We still won 3-0 so it didn’t really matter!”

A statement on the Portsmouth website read: “The thoughts of everyone at Portsmouth Football Club are with Jim’s family and friends at this incredibly sad time.”