Since they first met on a night out at a local pub in 1964, Harry Redknapp and wife Sandra Harris have only had eyes for each other.
And former footballer and manager Harry, 75, says the secret of their successful marriage is simply that he fell in love with Sandra, 74, and she with him.
He says: “In some ways it feels like yesterday since I first set eyes on Sandra, but in other ways, we have been together for a lifetime.
“I knew from the very moment that I met Sandra that I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life.”
In an exclusive extract from their new book When Harry Met Sandra, the loving pair both reveal the ups and downs of their 58-year relationship...
SANDRA
The phone rang two weeks after we first met (in a Sainsbury’s car park). It was Harry. “Would you like to come to a party with me? One of my team-mates is having a do to celebrate his birthday and I would really like it if you could come.”
The thought of spending the night with a bunch of footballers didn’t really excite me, But Harry seemed nice, so I agreed.
We all chatted throughout the night and I noticed Harry was becoming more and more drunk. He told me he wasn’t a beer drinker and so he had been on the Bacardi and cokes.
Afterwards, there was one thing I knew, and that was that I didn’t want to see Harry again, not if he was going to get himself in such a state on a night out.
It wasn’t until a few days later when my sister Pat told me she was dating Harry’s team-mate Frank Lampard, and said that she had heard Harry was a good man that I had a change of heart.
She was right and, four years later, Harry and I got married on June 30, 1968. Pat was my bridesmaid and she wore a dress with a claret underskirt and a pale blue top. They were West Ham colours, just a little nod to the team.
After such a lovely day, Harry and I were looking forward to our honeymoon in Torquay. But it was like an episode of Only Fools and Horses, with Harry in the starring role as Del Boy.
A few months before the wedding, Harry had bought a bright red Jaguar from West Ham player John Bond for £200. An hour or so into our journey and the car breaks down; the head gasket had completely gone. ‘This honeymoon is a disaster,’ we agreed when we finally got to our hotel eight hours later.
We had been recommended the hotel and the owner spoke directly to Harry on the phone, saying we could invite football friends over for dinner on the house. Harry decided to ask John Bonham and Bill Kitchener. They both arrived with their wives and we all had a lovely meal. At the end of the night, Harry was handed the bill.
I thought. “We’ve got no money and we now have to pay this bill! This is another nightmare.”
The journey home wasn’t much better - we broke down again and it took us another eight hours to get home.
The next summer, “I’m pregnant!” I told Harry. We were both thrilled to be expecting a baby, but we were also feeling nervous. Just five months earlier, I had said those same two words to Harry. But then, when I was around 12 weeks pregnant, I sadly suffered a miscarriage.
It wasn’t a great time for either of us and I cried a lot. So when I fell pregnant that July, I couldn’t believe it – and neither could Harry. But we couldn’t shake that feeling of worry and spent those early weeks terrified the same thing could happen again. It also didn’t help that I was suffering very badly with morning sickness.
Then, on April 16, 1970, Mark James Redknapp was born and suddenly all of those feelings of sickness just disappeared. The following year, Jamie was born. Being a mum of boys was tiring, chaotic and very noisy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
But life was about to change for us all.
HARRY
Everyone was going to America in the late 1970s: Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore. When I was invited to be a player/coach at the Seattle Seahawks, it sounded like too good an opportunity to miss.
Living in America was like one big holiday. It was such a brilliant life, we were very lucky.
Then, I got a call from this American fella, Leonard Lesser. “We want you as a coach, we need you at Phoenix,” he told me. I thought of a silly figure, then doubled it, and then he was offering me more plus a five-year deal.
I didn’t have a good feeling about Len. And my instincts were proven right when during a trip to the bank a few weeks later the cashier told me I had no money in my account.
“That can’t be right,” I told her. “I have just been paid my first month’s wages.” But I hadn’t been paid. Within two weeks, we were all unemployed. I remember me, Sandra and the kids ended up in a motel under a motorway like something out of the film Psycho.
Sandra has always been an amazing support throughout my whole career. To be honest, I can’t tell you the amount of times she has brought me back up after a disastrous result. Jamie always says I won the lottery when I married Sandra, and he is 100% right.
She has seen me in some terrible moods over the years – and she doesn’t ever push me. When I am feeling like that, Sandra is the only person I can talk to.
Sandra was beside herself when I was on trial in 2012 for tax evasion. It broke my heart how upset she was. But even though I knew she was angry, we never had an argument about it. We’ve always said throughout our marriage that you can’t just have a row, and throw the towel in. You’ll have good days and bad days and you just have to work through it.
Though if I am honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through this trial, I was just glad I had Sandra’s love and support and her by my side. The wait for the verdict was awful. It felt like the jury was deliberating for weeks. Sandra was in bits at home, wanting to know if I was going home that night or if she was going to be visiting me in prison.
When the foreman of the jury finally gave the verdict, I felt like I had won every football title you can think of. Of course I knew I was innocent, but there was that chance the jury might not believe me
“Why don’t we go for a drink, Dad, we need to celebrate,” Jamie said as we walked down the steps of Southwark Crown
Court. “Nah, I want to get home to your mum,” I told him. Grabbing my shoulder, Jamie smiled knowingly. “Okay, let’s go home, Dad,” he said.
When Harry Met Sandra is out Thursday (September 29), £20, published by Mirror Books
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