'They weren't too bad' : Redknapp on coaching 'best worst' football team

Retired Premier League manager Harry Redknapp has returned to coaching to crook astir the fortunes of a squad dubbed the worst successful the country.

Last play Tunley Athletic finished bottommost of the Somerset County League aft losing each 26 of their matches - with a 137 extremity difference.

Redknapp was brought successful to beryllium impermanent manager aft the squad won a nationalist Best Worst Team competition.

He said his purpose for the play was to "win a mates of games".

Redknapp, who managed West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and different top-flight clubs earlier his status successful 2017, had ne'er heard of Tunley and got mislaid connected the mode to his archetypal coaching session.

"My Sat Nav took maine each up state roads. I stopped a feline successful the narrowest lane I've ever been down," helium told BBC Radio Somerset.

"I said 'Excuse maine mate'... helium went 'It's Harry Redknapp', helium said, 'What you doing here?' and I said 'I don't know, I'm inactive trying to fig it out'.

He said his archetypal crippled was a hard 1 against a top-of-the-league team.

"We played OK, deliberation it finished up astir 8-2 we mislaid but we managed to people a mates of goals, which was encouraging," Redknapp said.

"They weren't arsenic atrocious arsenic I expected, they were good and astir important they were bully lads."

Tunley skipper Tyler Davis, who nominated the nine for the grassroots contention tally by Specsavers, said: "It has been the craziest mates of months that anyone progressive successful the nine has ever had.

"Our signifier had dilatory declined implicit a play oregon two, and past decidedly this play we deed a very, precise atrocious patch.

"We had a 14-nil and a 17-nil, and aft that, it was conscionable immoderate assistance we tin get we're gonna person to instrumentality it.

"We had an inkling who our manager would be, but we weren't 100 per cent sure.

"Then we were each successful the pub and helium opened the doorway and you conscionable don't truly cognize what to accidental arsenic you don't expect to spot idiosyncratic similar that successful person."

Redknapp antecedently joined erstwhile Best Worst Team, Cwm Albion – wherever helium celebrated success.

He is owed to mentor Tunley until the extremity of this season, though helium joked that helium has his enactment chopped out.

"It surely a pugnacious job, yeah... I've gone from the San Siro, Old Trafford, the Bernabeu, White Hart Lane, ending up astatine Cwm Albion oregon Tunley but anyhow I'm enjoying it conscionable arsenic much," helium said.

Asked if Tunley had its ain Gareth Bale oregon Paolo Di Canio, Redknapp said: "They indispensable do, I didn't spot him but helium indispensable beryllium determination somewhere."