So, as he said, he's sort of taking up a DoF role - although because hates the title, he's not calling himself that...
4 October 2017 : Harry Redknapp Gives Thoughts On His New Advisor Role At Yeovil Town
Harry Redknapp has said that he will be making his first visit to Huish Park tomorrow, as he commences his first day as an informal football advisor at Yeovil Town. On an unpaid, non-contract basis, the 70 year old former Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur boss will be working with first team manager Darren Way in a role that is not strongly fixed, but would appear to be one that will involve Redknapp sitting in the stands and watching, rather than directly getting involved in the dugout area on matchdays.
Redknapp has had past contact with both of Yeovil Town's current management team. He was Spurs boss at the time the Premier League side loaned the Glovers a batch of youngsters, including Steven Caulker, Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend when Terry Skiverton was in charge of the team. More recently he was Birmingham's boss when Way attempted to bring midfielder Corey O'Keeffe to Huish Park, as a loan deal in the summer. Whilst that deal didn't go through, it did establish some contacts, and Redknapp explained to BBC Somerset how he saw his role in the early days:
"I've known Darren for quite a while and he's a great guy. I think he's doing an excellent job down at Yeovil. He just said if I could come in, whenever I get time to pop down and just be around him for a little bit. I know Terry Skiverton well, and to just be around when I get the time and the opportunity, if I can pass a little bit of experience on, then I'm only too pleased to help. I'm going to pop down tomorrow (Thursday). I'll come down and have a chat with the boys and Darren."
Redknapp also has a strong connection with the Yeovil Town board, given that club owner Norman Hayward and Director Brian Willis were both on the AFC Bournemouth board during the 1990s, whilst Redknapp was in his first managerial job. Despite the Glovers' current 17th place position in the League Two table, he said that he felt the club was still doing well given its constraints:
"I think they've done well under the circumstances. It's difficult, as Darren is not working on a big budget there, so he's obviously got a tough job on his hands. But Yeovil is a good job, and a club with great tradition. I know one or two of the Directors there as well. It's all about just getting the best out of the players that he's got there, which I'm sure he does. But there will be little pitfalls along the way, and little things that he hasn't encountered before that I've come across in all of the games that I've managed, where I can give him a little bit of advice."
The Sandbanks-based former manager has taken charge of seven different clubs (along with two spells at Portsmouth) and has had a reputation for bringing in prominent players for large transfer fees. He admitted that wasn't going to be an option at Yeovil Town. However, he said that one pattern to the sort of clubs that he'd been involved in, was that they were often near the bottom of their division when he arrived:
"I've always taken over clubs that have been stuck at the bottom of the league. I've never met anybody that can suddenly turn very average players into great players. So I've always gone into clubs and tried to improve them, and bring better players in, as well as working with them. But Darren has got a tight budget there, and he can't just go out and bring players in willy-nilly. He's got to work with what he's got. So that's what he does, and he does that very well."