Redknapp sickened by abusive chants
Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp admits the abusive chants some Arsenal fans aimed at Emmanuel Adebayor in the last north London derby sickened him to the core.
Spurs ran out 2-1 winners against their bitter north London rivals at White Hart Lane last October but the match was marred by a series of unsavoury chants from both sets of fans.
A section of the away support sparked outrage by directing chants about the deadly gun attack on Togo players in Angola towards Adebayor, while some Spurs fans directed personal abuse at Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Redknapp was particularly unhappy with the chants about Adebayor, and said: "Unbelievable. It's crazy."
The Tottenham manager expects the former Arsenal striker to be on the receiving end of a fierce barracking when the two clubs meet at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, and added: "No-one deserves that. It's absolute filth.
"Having seen boys get killed like that, get shot, and then for people to start singing about it..."
Redknapp has always been a keen advocate of the traditional values of football but his confidence in the game has been shaken by offensive chanting, some of which has been directed at him lately.
"It's the worst thing about the modern game. I hate it," Redknapp said. "It gets worse. It's scary what some people chant.
"People sing songs about a player's mother dying. I couldn't believe what I was hearing when I was watching the West Brom - Wolves game the other day. What they were singing about a player's wife, it made me ill.
"I don't understand it. It's nonsense, filth. We have all grown up loving the game but they can't be football lovers.
"People get in a crowd and they change. If you meet them individually they are as good as gold, but get them in a crowd and off they go, they all follow and chant any filth that comes into their heads."
Press Association
