Jamie Redknapp has explained why he did not follow his father’s footsteps and become a football manager after ending his playing career, joking that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have “aged overnight” since going into coaching.
Gerrard recently parted ways with Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq after a miserable spell in charge and was sacked by Aston Villa in his last job in England. Lampard has been sacked from both of his Premier League jobs at Chelsea and Everton, but is now doing a quietly impressive job with Coventry City in the Championship.
Neither Gerrard or Lampard have hit the heights of their playing careers, though, and Redknapp said he would not “put myself through the pain” of being a manager.
Redknapp’s father, Harry Redknapp, enjoyed a hugely successful coaching career with Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur, but Redknapp said he would also see his father go through “unbelievable lows” when his teams lost.
Redknapp played for Tottenham, Liverpool and England but his playing career was ended by a knee injury. He has been a regular pundit for Sky Sports for two decades.
He told the Times: “[Management] that never crossed my mind. I’d watched Dad go through so many highs and unbelievable lows.
“He’d get so down when [his team] lost. He was under so much pressure and subconsciously I took it on.
I was like, ‘Not for one second do I want that.’ I’m quite an addictive person. I knew if I took on a job I’d get really into it, but these days if you lose six games you’re sacked.
“Frank [Lampard] has done it, and Steven Gerrard. I look at them and think, ‘They’ve aged overnight.’ Why would I put myself through that pain?”
Redknapp said retiring from football at the age of 31 would have far more difficult if it was not for Sky Sports, who he has been with for the past 20 seasons.
“It could have been so much harder,” he said. “You get this incredible adulation as a player, then all of a sudden it’s gone; there’s a new superstar and you’re forgotten. People really struggle, but luckily Sky filled that void really quickly.”
