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Harry Redknapp dismisses Daily Telegraph betting claims as 'nonsense'

Harry Redknapp has dismissed allegations that his players gambled on the result of a game, after being filmed by undercover reporters at the Daily Telegraph saying that they had.

Redknapp, a former manager of Portsmouth, Southampton, QPR and Tottenham among others, is the latest manager to be filmed in the newspaper's series of investigative reports on corruption in football, the first of which led to the sacking of England manager Sam Allardyce earlier this week, but hit out at the allegations on Saturday.

"It's a nonsense. If that's the best they could get out of three hours of sitting with me and trying to stitch me up, it's sad," he told BT Sport. "The worst part is that when the bill came up, the other four scumbags got up and left me with the bill.

"They [the players] never had a bet anyway. No-one had a bet. Impossible. Anyone who's watching this who understands betting odds knows that a team on the top playing a team that's relegated, it's not a betting proposition. You can't bet on that. It's ridiculous."

Football Association rules prohibit players from gambling on games in which they play, while managers must report any knowledge of betting to the governing body. The Telegraph, citing legal reasons, did not reveal which game, teams, or players were involved in the gambling.

Redknapp said he only learned of his players' gambling after the game, which his side won, but the Telegraph reported that he did not report any misconduct to the FA.

The FA has now said it will investigate all the allegations made once it has received the newspaper's full evidence file.

Redknapp is shown saying in a video that the opposition "murdered us early on," and adding: "At half-time I took [a player] off and put, erm, [another player on] and they're all looking at me, all the lads, 'cause I didn't know they'd had a bet, 'cause they was [sic] all choked, they'd all had a spread bet and everything.''

Football agent Dax Price, who was also present in the Telegraph's film, said players from both teams were betting on the result, with one player having as much as "20 grand" on the line.

When contacted later by the newspaper, and told that betting by players was against the rules, Redknapp reportedly replied: "Oh would it? Oh, okay. But not at that time I don't think it was, was it? They weren't betting on the other team, they were having a bet on their own team."

Asked about his remarks about the players gambling on the game, the Telegraph claims he told the newspaper: "Unbeknownst to me. No, not a spread bet. It wasn't a spread bet. I think they had a bet on the game, but it wasn't, that was nothing to do with me ... after the game I'd heard the rumour the lads had had a bet that day ... I'm not in control of whether they go and have a bet or not."

Information from Press Association was used in this report.

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