Did Harry Redknapp REALLY know Frank Lampard was going to be so successful? | The Football Show

Harry, I want to ask you about your nephew, if that's okay. We were just chatting before you joined us this morning about that incredible moment when you were at West Ham and you were sitting there at the press conference and defending Frank Lampard against some fan criticism at that early stage of his career. You talked then about what an amazing player he was going to be. Did you really know, is my first question, and did you also know much later down the line, that he would go on to be a successful manager? Well, I certainly, I knew it wouldn't be for the lack of trying, David, that he would become a top player. I've never ever, and I say this honestly, I've never seen any footballer come anywhere near, well, the only one I've seen who came near him was his dad for training. His dad was incredible every afternoon putting his spikes on and the kid was the same. I would look at my office at Chapel Heath when I was at West Ham and 200 yards in the distance raining, getting dark, four o'clock, winter's day. There'd be Frank, bag of balls, shooting, left foot, right foot, left foot, picking the balls, going back again, round the cone, left foot shot, right, putting his spikes on, doing his sprints. The first time I ever saw him do it, I called the groundsman and I said, someone's over there, jumped over the fence. There's a nutter over there running up and down. I said, he went, it's young Frank. That's why he wanted it so bad. He used to go home and run around the streets at night, put a wetsuit on or dustbin line, go and have a run. Because when I signed him, I'll be truthful, when I signed him, I had some fantastic judges with the youth team who were great youth coaches. They said, Harry, he's never going to make it. He can't run. He can't get around the But he made himself into a, he genuinely made himself into a player just by practicing and training and running and working and that desire to be a top player. And that's what he did and what a player he became. And what about the manager bit? Well, yeah, I had no doubts. I mean, Mel Morris, I'll be honest, I got him the job at Ipswich with Marcus Evans. I phoned Marcus Evans. I said, listen, you need a manager. Frank Lampard's your man. He met him, loved him, offered him the job. Frank said, Harry, they've got no budget. It's difficult there. I can't bring any players in. What can I do? Yeah. I said, it's a great club, Ipswich, Frank, but you're going to need a bit of help. You ain't got a magic wand. And suddenly the derby job come available and I rung Mel Morris. Mel's got a house up the road from me and I'll get on ever so well with him. And I said, Mel, your manager, are you looking for a manager? He said, yeah, I'm going to go for an experienced manager. I said, Mel, you keep getting managers and getting rid of them. I said, you've not been very clever at picking managers. Take Frank Lampard. No. He said, no, he's got no experience. I said, well, you know, there's been lots of managers gone, great managers gone out straight from playing. You've got people like you caught one in out ground soon as you, you know, you, you've got Kenny Douglas, we're going back into, I know, but now we've got Steven Gerrard, but I said, listen, he knows the game. What is, you know, the kid's a great professional. He understands football. It'd be fantastic for you. It brings so much to Derby County football club. Anyway, he said, well, maybe as an assistant, I might be interested in talking to him. I said, no, he wants to be a manager, Mel. Meet him, meet him, please have a meeting with him. He said, well, you know, I said, when you're in London, he said, well, I'm in London tomorrow. I said, well, I'll ring Frank. I said, I've not even spoke to him. He may not be interested in the job. I made a meet for him next day. I rung Frank. He said, yeah, I'd love to meet him. Mel rung me, had a meeting at seven o'clock. He rung me up past eight, Mel, Mel Morris. He said, oh my God, he's blown me away. He's self given the job. And that was it. I had no doubts he'd be a success. He's a clever, bright lad. His work ethic is incredible. He knows the game. He's been brought up with the game. He'll be amazing.