Mandaric: Harry wanted Smith out

Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric last night intensified his blazing row with Harry Redknapp by making the extraordinary claim that the manager himself had wanted his assistant Jim Smith fired.

The row, which first blew up on Monday, had appeared to centre on Redknapp's loyalty to his old friend Smith, with the manager slamming Mandaric's proposed coaching shake-up at Fratton Park which looked likely to spell the end for Smith and first-team coach Kevin Bond.

But Mandaric flew back to England from a business trip to Belgium and Slovenia yesterday and insisted that it was Redknapp who first suggested Smith might have to make way for a younger man at a long-term strategy meeting in September - and not after last Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Leicester. The owner also claimed that Redknapp had told him they should not jettison Smith until later this season because it would upset high-profile friends in the game, such as Sir Alex Ferguson.

Mandaric said: 'He wanted Jim Smith sacked, not me, and whether or not Jim stays now is up to Harry.' Last night Redknapp refuted Mandaric's accusation, saying: 'I never said that. My friendship with Jim is more precious to me than being in a job. The chairman says he does not want the club's business aired in public but he has been on TV more than any chairman in history this week. The whole thing has been a disgrace in what should be a week of celebration. I am 100 per cent committed to Jim and always have been.'

When asked if he would quit if Smith left the club, Redknapp said: 'It's hard to say I wouldn't - but then I've signed a two-year contract and I think I've earned the two years I've got left. I've done nothing wrong but if Milan wants to shift us, he's got to make sure he sorts us out. I can say I'm going to walk but leave myself wide open and not get paid - we've got to get our contracts paid.

'I need to see Milan but I think the whole thing has gone too far now. Jim and I are very bitter at the way we've been treated after two fantastic seasons.'