Birmingham City boss Harry Redknapp, 70, ‘feared for his life’ as he was rushed to hospital for surgery to remove tumour from his bladder
Footie boss was rushed to hospital in a pre-season cancer scare
TERRIFIED Harry Redknapp has revealed he feared for his life in a pre-season cancer scare.
The footie boss, 70, was rushed to hospital for surgery to remove a tumour from his bladder.
The Birmingham City manager said of the tumour he feared might kill him: “I could feel it in my body — I knew it wasn’t right.”
In an exclusive interview, brave Harry told The Sun on Sunday: “This is the first time I’ve been properly worried.
“I knew I didn’t feel good, you know when something isn’t right, but it was Sandra who pushed me to the doctor in the end.”
Harry was rushed into hospital for surgery to remove the tumour from his bladder and now has to have check-ups every three months.
He was only given the all-clear to start the Blues’ pre-season training programme last week after his test results came back negative.
He confessed: “I am lucky, I know that because it could have been malignant.
“They cut it out, there was no other option.
“Once they did that I was up and about after a couple of days.
“I am relaxed about it now because what can you do?”
The Sun on Sunday understands his close-knit family — including his sons ex-England footballer Jamie, 44, and Mark, 46 — were fraught with concern over the cancer scare.
But Harry, whose colourful career has also seen him manage at Bournemouth, West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham and Queen’s Park Rangers, said he wanted to focus on his new job.
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He said: “I can’t keep away. Football is my life. This is what I do.”
The dad of two has had previous health issues and in 2011 required a heart operation to widen his arteries with metal stents.
Harry, who admitted that scare was a warning, also had to cope with a stressful legal case that saw him cleared of two counts of cheating the public revenue in 2012.
He quit his job as QPR chief in February 2015 because bad knees — both of which were replaced — left him unable to walk 100 yards.
His latest scare is unrelated to previous problems.
Harry recognises health issues are a part of growing old.
He said: “It’s like anything, you get to a certain age and people start to get problems with illnesses.
“There are so many people I know, so many of my mates who have something, or someone else is struggling with another illness or problem. That is life, unfortunately.
“When they had it all checked out they told me it would be OK. I have to go for check-ups every three months now.
“They cut it out, took it away, sent it away to make sure it is not malignant and luckily everything was OK. I know I am fortunate.”
It's the first time I've been properly worried
Harry Redknapp
Harry, a docker’s son from London’s East End, lives in a £10million mansion on Sandbanks in Dorset with Sandra, 70.
He took over at Championship side Birmingham in April and helped them to escape relegation last season.
BLADDER RISK - by Carol Cooper, Sun Doctor
BLADDER tumours are common. All of them are an abnormal growth of bladder cells, and they can be benign or cancerous.
It is the fourth most common cancer in men.
Fortunately, it’s usually easy to treat, unless it has spread.
The most common symptom is blood in the urine, often without any pain. That’s a red flag symptom that means a trip to the doctor.
Men between 50 and 70 are most likely to develop bladder cancer. There’s no one cause. Factors include smoking.
Men often fight shy of going to the GP. Harry was lucky his wife persuaded him to see his doctor.
He signed a one-year deal in May.
Harry said: “Now I want to get on with the football season.
“This is a new challenge and I’m desperate to succeed.
“There are good people working at Birmingham, they are a good club and everybody around the place wants us to be successful.
“That’s my focus now. I know I’ve been lucky, I just want to do what I love doing most — managing.”
Harry revealed Sandra, his wife of 50 years, backed his decision to take over at Birmingham.
He said: “Sandra doesn’t interfere in anything. She supports me.”
The couple have been presidents of charity Leukaemia Busters, which raises cash for treatment and research, since 2004.
Harry had a brush with death in 1990 when he survived a car crash outside Rome during the World Cup in Italy.
The accident killed a close friend and left Harry with a fractured skull, broken nose and cracked ribs.
He was the boss at Tottenham when he had his heart scare.
He suffered chest pains while running on a treadmill.
As he recovered at home from the heart op, Harry told The Sun how a club doctor immediately referred him to a specialist.
He said: “I have a running machine at home and run several times a week.
“But this time I went on and had been running for about two minutes when I felt pains in my chest.
“I had hardly got going when it went tight and I was struggling to breathe. As soon as that happens you know the best thing to do is stop immediately, which I did.”
Harry dismissed the surgery as “no big deal” and added: “They didn’t even put me out. I was sort of half-conscious while they did what they had to do and now it’s all taken care of.”
There was more drama last October when Harry ran over Sandra’s ankle in his Range Rover.
He said at the time: “It was a bizarre accident.”
Ex-player who rose to be top manager
HARRY has often been called “the best manager England never had”.
He started out in football as a youth player with Tottenham.
The midfielder moved to West Ham and played 149 first team games before joining Bournemouth in 1972.
He later switched to management and took charge at Bournemouth in 1983, helping the club to avoid relegation to the old Fourth Division. They even beat mighty Manchester United 2-0 in the FA Cup.
In the 1990s at West Ham he brought on Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, his nephew Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.
Harry went to Portsmouth, leading them to the Division One title in 2003, before leaving for bitter rivals Southampton.
He crossed the divide again and led Pompey to FA Cup glory in 2008.
Then he took Tottenham to two top-four finishes in a row.