Harry Redknapp is a busy man.
We catch him on a sunny morning in Poole, taking delivery of some weights for his home gym. “I’m trying my best to keep fit. I want arms like Popeye, at the moment I’m more like Olive Oyl,” he jokes.
In the afternoon he’s got an engagement for a local hospice, then there’s nine holes of golf to squeeze in with a group who won a charity auction before thoughts turn to his latest stint in the dug-out for Saturday’s Kiyan Prince Foundation Champions Cup game at Loftus Road.
Last weekend he coached two charity sides in 24 hours, next month he’s back at Old Trafford for Soccer Aid. He’s a brilliant fit for these particular gigs, a man with a serious footballing CV whose endearing quality is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
“All that experience and this is what I’ve ended up as,” he chuckles. “I’m not going to manage in the Premier League anymore so I’ve become the manager they get in to do charity games.”
But he’s only just turned 76, a matter of months older than Roy Hodgson and Neil Warnock. He didn’t look at their triumphant returns with a touch of envy?
“No! I suppose if someone rang up and offered me something interesting I wouldn’t say no but I doubt I’ll get the chance. I’m too busy anyway, there’s not a space in my diary for it,” he says.
“I’m so pleased for Roy and Neil. It’s all about understanding the game, they get the right messages over to people to help them win football matches. It ain’t rocket science, honestly.
“That experience is invaluable. When Neil went to Huddersfield, I knew he’d keep them up. I thought they were a certainty. Sam [Allardyce] too, him going back in has given Leeds a chance. It’s a tough ask but if anyone can do it, he can.
“Roy going back in at Palace was a great shout. He knows the club, he’s a great football man and it was a great opportunity for him. I hope he stays on for another year.”
Redknapp may be out of the game but it’s clearly not out of his mind. He lives a few yards from Eddie Howe and is delighted about the impact he’s had at “special club” Newcastle.
There’s less enthusiasm about the predicament of former club Tottenham.
“It’s a shame how it’s worked out this season,” he says. Redknapp has plenty of thoughts on where it’s gone wrong but thinks anger at Daniel Levy is misguided.
“People always say to me ‘I bet he was a nightmare to work with’ but he wasn’t, he was fine with me. He never interfered.
“I think they’ve spent money on players – they’re in the top four or five spenders every year – but he’s employing people to pick the players and unfortunately they haven’t recruited well at all.
“When I look at that team it’s got a couple of world class players and then they’re really short in some areas. They have spent a lot of money but it’s been on quite average players.”
When he watches them now, frustration gnaws away at him.
“I’d like to see Tottenham have a go. I would play with a forward line of Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son and Harry Kane. I’d have a go,” he says.
“I’d think ‘You’ve got four incredible forwards here, let’s go and win football matches’. They don’t, they go one up, play three at the back. Have a go!
“When I managed Tottenham – I was back with the boys last weekend [for a charity game] – I played two wingers home and away, Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale. I played two up top, whether it was Defoe, Adebayor, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch. We played with two forwards.
“They need to be positive, that’s a big problem for them.”
One of those forwards, Defoe, will be back on his side for Saturday’s Loftus Road charity game for the Kiyan Prince foundation.
It is 17 years since Kiyan, a talented academy prospect at QPR, lost his life trying to break up a fight at his school and father Mark has ensured his legacy lives on with the foundation that bears his name. “A special guy,” Redknapp says.
The game will raise money to help vulnerable children at risk of exploitation or being sucked into the deadly cycle of drugs, gangs and violence. It has never been needed more.
Redknapp says he really believes in the game’s capacity to reach out to people in need, which is why so many charity matches have been established.
I mention “Harry’s Heroes”, the surprisingly tender reality series he was part of that reunited former England players and told the often complicated story of how some of them have pieced together their lives after addiction, depression or divorce. The sense of camaraderie among those middle-aged former footballers was achingly genuine.
“That was fantastic. I’d love to do it again,” he says. And then he’s off.
“You’ve given me an idea. You know what might be interesting? To do a documentary with the four big clubs – Tottenham, get someone in at Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool – get the old players, see what they’ve been up to, go behind-the-scenes and get them all together for a game.”
He’s warming to a theme now. “You could maybe have a four team knockout where we play each other and it’s for TV. The build-up, what the players have done since giving up, some might have fallen on hard times – people like to watch those programmes don’t they?
“We could get Fergie to come back! Get the old boys together and play a round robin tournament, I think people would enjoy it.”
And then a pause, as if he’s mentally clearing that stuffed diary of his, rearranging that long list of four balls to go head-to-head with Sir Alex again.
“I will have to have a word with someone at Sky….”
The Kiyan Prince Future Champions Celebrity Cup takes place at 3pm at Loftus Road involving stars like Jermain Defoe, Nedum Onouha and celebrities including comedian Russell Howard.
To book tickets and find out more about the KPF and its work, visit the website thekpf.com.
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