Portsmouth's Redknapp Fears Foreign Ownership

Portsmouth's manager Harry Redknapp is worried that foreign ownershipship will undermine the role of the manager in the Premier League.

However, on the heels of an Dubai purchase of Manchester City, Redknapp doesn't have much of a foundation.

He believes transfer policy will soon be dictated by owners competing for glamour signings rather than managers building a team.

"In future managers will not be responsible for buying and selling players," said Redknapp, who works for Portsmouth's Russian owner Alexandre Gaydamak.

"So many owners with huge financial clout are coming in now and they're the ones who will buy and sell the players.

"The manager's job will only be about coaching and picking the team.

"Managers as we know them now could be a thing of the past within the next decade. I can see the manager's role being reduced.

"Now owners will go 'we'll have him, him and him' and the managers must get on with it.

"For sure that's detrimental to football and the art of football management.

Take the case of Roman Abromovich, who is the owner of Chelsea, and the Glazers who bought Manchester United several years ago, neither owner has undermined the authority of the manager. Sir Alex Ferguson still has huge sway over how Manchester United is run on the pitch.

Look owners are business men first and foremost. Some love the game of football, but most are businessmen first. If their transfer policies run from teh boardroom do not put on a quality game for the fans, you will see the business of the football club suffer and the fans will not be shy telling owners why.

I have little fear of managers losing their role.