Sir Harry Redknapp is set to make his big screen debut in a film about the time he plucked a mouthy fan from the crowd and put him on the pitch. The legendary West Ham boss, 79, appears in a cameo in the new movie Halftime Hero, playing a stall seller flogging traditional jellied eels and cockles to fans.
Harry was pictured on set outside Leyton Orient Football Club, which has been transformed by movie bosses to double as the Hammers' old Upton Park home. The film tells the incredible true story of the day he famously picked supporter Steve 'Pringle' Davies from the stands and put him on the football pitch during a 1994 pre-season friendly. Steve incredibly went on to score as West Ham won 4-0.
Cast and Crew
Eddie Marsan plays a younger Harry in the movie, with MobLand star Anson Boon taking the role of Steve and Ellie Bamber playing his girlfriend Penny. In interviews about the day, Steve, who grew up in Rushden, near Northampton, told how he started supporting West Ham after watching them beat Fulham in the 1975 FA Cup final.
He used to make a 182-mile round trip to watch the team, saying: "I wore the shirt with pride and would travel to see the games as often as I could. Trevor Brooking was my hero. I had hundreds of photos of Brooking."
The Day That Made Football Folklore
Recalling the pre-season match at Oxford, he told how he received a call from his pal, Chuck, asking whether they should go to the game. He told The Guardian: "Chunk called me up one day and said, 'We got a pre-season game over at Oxford – fancy it?' We liked to get a couple of games in early. We get withdrawal symptoms when the season finishes in May. I very rarely missed a game, and I fancied a little away trip to Oxford anyways."
He told how he was with his friends and partner, sitting by a fence with the travelling West Ham fans, when Harry, then assistant manager, emerged from the dressing room and greeted them. Steve said: "Harry being Harry, he talks to people. He said hello and all that. A few fans exchanged pleasantries. But there's no airs and graces with Harry."
Once the game kicked off, he was shouting at their centre forward. He said: "Lee Chapman was up front for us, on the edge of the area, and he went up against a little guy from Oxford. Lee towered over him, but came down on his a**e."
He said: "If you're watching your team and someone does something really daft, you won't leave them alone for a couple of minutes. I think Chapman lost the ball again, he got tackled and got a cut on his shin. He went down, and I was shouting, 'Come on! Get up, you donkey'."
Harry's Version of Events
Harry told the TV show A League of Their Own: "There's a guy next to the dug-out, and he's got West Ham tattooed all over his arms and neck, he's got the earrings. After two minutes, he started on me." He said Steve was shouting: "We ain't got that Lee Chapman up front do we – I ain't coming every week if he's playing."
Harry said: "Half-time I made five substitutions, and we only had the bare 11 out – I was running out of players. Then we got another injury, so I said to this guy in the crowd, 'Oi, can you play as good as you talk?'"
The rest of the tale is football folklore which is told in the film. Steve said: "I slung a leg over the barrier and Harry walked me down the tunnel. I couldn't believe it. Inside the dressing room, the players were sat down resting at half-time."
He told how Harry substituted Lee Chapman off and him on: "We come on up the tunnel and I still thought Harry was having a laugh with me. I didn't think I was actually gonna get on, or I thought I might get a minute or two as a joke. I didn't come out of Oxford's half I was playing up front with Trevor Morley, goal-hanging! It was quick football. This was a step up from Sunday league, to say the least. Oxford play Saturday football – I played Sunday football, pub football."
While admitting he was massively out of his depth, Steve tells the story of his goal: "Suddenly, we were on the attack. The ball went out wide – I'm sure it was Matty Holmes on the wing – and we pushed forward. I had two defenders in front of me and I was just sprinting forward, I think. I just hit it. I hit it like nothing else. Know what I mean? I belted it. It was like time stopped still – it was the greatest moment of my life."
West Ham ended up winning the game 4-0, but the kit manager wouldn't let him keep his Number 3 shirt as they needed it for the next match against Newcastle.
Production and Debut
The film is being produced by Sir Ridley Scott's Scott Free, alongside Live Nation Studios and The Saga Company, with Ole Sanders writing and directing. Harry's cameo marks his first film role, more than three decades after the extraordinary football moment that inspired the movie.
