Harry Redknapp appears to make Nazi salute after joking Thomas Tuchel is a ‘German spy’

He was making an appearance at a charity event when he made the comments

The former Portsmouth, Tottenham and West Ham manager was speaking in front of an audience in London last week when he made the remarks.

The Guardian has seen footage of the incident. The 78-year-old was asked whether England were right to appoint the German to which he replied: "I don't know."

He joked: "I’ll be honest with you, I think he’s a German spy. I’m telling you. Seriously, he’s been sent over to fuck 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."

Redknapp soon imagines an instruction given to Tuchel – “‘Go over and ruin that team” – before putting on a German accent, saying “Ja” and lifting his left arm in a manner that appeared to resemble a Nazi salute.

His comments, which were made before Tuchel's first two games in charge, were met with laughter from the audience.

The incident prompted some criticism of Redknapp on social media, though German comedian Henning Wehn - a regular guest on BBC Radio 5 live's Fighting Talk - said: "What a non-story. Lighten up! If we're not allowed a bit of banter, what's the point of football? Or anything."

Tuchel managed England to two wins, a 2-0 victory over Albania last Friday and 3-0 win against Latvia on Monday.

Tuchel is the first German and, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, the third foreigner to manage the England men’s team.

His appointment in October 2024 received a mixed response, with the Daily Mail’s back page declaring it was “A dark day for England [as] Three Lions gamble on a German.”

The German ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, criticised the outcry at the time saying those views were shared by 'a minority' and were 'outdated'.

Berger added: "The side has had foreign coaches before, so to have a foreigner is nothing new. It’s a brave decision, but it’s a very clear and a very clever one."