Decision day: Harry Redknapp arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday

But he complained to Mandaric he should have received 10 per cent when that was what he would have been due when Crouch was signed from QPR. Despite Redknapp calling the $295,000 deposited into his Monaco account ‘a bonus’ in the interview Beasley taped without Redknapp’s knowledge — a tape central to the Crown’s case — the physical evidence only ever pointed to an investment Mandaric made for his ‘special friend’.

As Kelsey-Fry said: ‘Harry Redknapp’s voluntary disclosure of the Monaco account was the “acid test” that it was not, as the prosecution claim, a secret, and what did he do with the money? For six years, until 2008, he did absolutely nothing. When Mr Redknapp moved in 2003 he never even bothered to tell the bank holding his secret nest egg.’

The court also heard evidence from Nigel Layton, the managing director of Quest when Lord  Stevens enlisted their services to conduct the inquiry into Premier League transfers between January 1, 2004 and January 31, 2006.

The Premier League paid the best part of £1m for the ‘bungs inquiry’ and the sketchy nature of Layton’s evidence — he struggled to recall the precise details of meetings with Redknapp and his representatives — was more than a little surprising.

Layton did, however, confirm that Redknapp voluntarily revealed Rosie 47 in November 2006, despite the fact that ‘Quest had no power whatsoever to force disclosure’.

While Quest were satisfied with the information they received from Redknapp, they still passed on the information to the City of London Police. Not that the police mentioned that to Redknapp during their interviews. They did not mention that they were in possession of the Beasley interview tapes either.

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