EXCLUSIVE: Watching Chelsea win the Champions League was the worst night of my football life as Gullit celebrated like a lunatic - then I lost my job at Spurs

I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life the night I went to watch Chelsea win the 2012 Champions League final.



You all know what happened. Chelsea were outplayed by Bayern Munich — as they had been by Barcelona and by Napoli in previous rounds — but they won the trophy.

It meant Spurs hadn’t qualified for the following season’s Champions League, despite finishing fourth — two points above Chelsea in the Premier League. They took our place as holders. I was distraught. I felt like crying.



Jamie invited me over — he said Sky had a box at the game and I should go as his guest.

Ruud Gullit was there and was carrying on right in front of me like a lunatic. He had nothing riding on the game — Chelsea had sacked him, for heaven’s sake — but he didn’t care.



Low point: Harry Redknapp shakes a Chelsea fan's hands after the Champions League final

Ruud was jumping around, cheering, singing, banging on the windows to draw the attention of the Chelsea players — and, when they looked up, in the background was me, feeling probably at my lowest as a football manager.



In the end, I think Jamie got quite upset on my behalf.



‘Ruud, do us a favour, they sacked you, didn’t they?’ he said to him. ‘Ah, yes, but that was different people,’ said Ruud and then carried on oblivious.



I felt embarrassed, really, as if I was spoiling the party, but I still think his behaviour was over the top.



Celebration time: Chelsea's Didier Drogba celebrates with Ruud Gullit after winning the Champions League

As I left, I thought: ‘Get a top-class front man in for next season and the sky’s the limit for us.’



Little did I know I had 25 days left as Tottenham manager.

We had been through a lot together that year. There were people from Tottenham in the Crown Court every day during my tax evasion trial and our season had gone so well until the injuries intervened.

Even taking away Chelsea’s Champions League win, we were close, just a point in it between us and Arsenal in third place.

Guest: Redknapp went to the Champions League final with his son Jamie

My departure wasn’t straightforward by any means.



It certainly wasn’t a case of walking in and being sacked.

In fact, we had previously been talking about extending my contract.



Having had these discussions, I went to see chairman Daniel Levy again. ‘What’s happening, Daniel?’ I asked. He seemed very unsure. ‘Maybe, Harry, we’ve just come to the end.’

Respect: Redknapp says he always had a good relationship with chairman Daniel Levy

Getting his way: Redknapp signed Scott Parker and Younes Kaboul - despite Levy not being keen on them



Extracted from Always Managing: My Autobiography by Harry Redknapp with Martin Samuel, published by Ebury on October 10 at £20. © Harry Redknapp 2013. To order a copy for £15.99 (p&p free), call 0844 472 4157.

I wasn’t happy, but I had to accept it and I wasn’t going to let it cloud my memories of my time at Spurs. I loved every minute of it. And I am proud of my record there.

They had never seen Champions League football until I arrived — and haven’t since — and it’s not as if they were a top-four Premier League team in the recent past, either.



Spurs had finished behind West Ham three years on the spin when I was at Upton Park.

I got on fine with Daniel. I still do. He loaned me some of his players last season with QPR.



People think Daniel Levy and I were always clashing over players, but it wasn’t like that.



Yes, he has his own views, but he never signed a player who wasn’t run by me first.

He didn’t always fancy some of my choices, such as Scott Parker or Younes Kaboul, but I got most of them.

He was the first person to ring me up to wish me luck when I took over at QPR, and even on the night I left Tottenham, the car phone rang and it was Daniel.



‘Harry, let’s keep in touch,’ he said. ‘I hope we can still be friends.’

I thought, ‘He’s got some front. He’s just sacked me and now he wants to be mates.’

