Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, who was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a police inquiry into alleged corruption in football, has said that it “doesn’t directly concern” him.
Redknapp was one of a group of five men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.
City of London Police have said all five men have been released on bail until February. A spokeswoman said: “The arrests were part of the force’s ongoing investigation into corruption into the game. Two searches have been completed while another 10 are ongoing.”
Among those arrested were Portsmouth’s chief executive Peter Storrie and the club’s former chairman Milan Mandaric. Another of those who were held is understood to be Charlton player and Senegalese international Amdy Faye, currently on loan to Rangers.
The inquiry is believed to be centred around the transfer of Mr Faye to Portsmouth from the French club Auxerre, a deal set up by agent Willie McKay. The transfer of Senegalese international Faye from Portsmouth to Newcastle was one of the 17 deals highlighted in the Quest investigation into corruptiuon within the game.
Redknapp said: “We all helped the police with their inquiries, but it doesn’t directly concern me, it’s other people involved.
“I’ve been answering questions to help the police. I am not directly concerned with their inquiries.
“They have to arrest you to talk to you, for you to be in the police station. I think that’s the end of it, it didn’t directly concern me.”
Paul Martin, the solicitor representing Mr Redknapp and Mr Storrie, said: “The inquiries do not relate to either of those individuals. They relate to entirely different individuals.”
A spokesman for Mr Mandaric said the Leicester City chairman would “continue to offer his full and total support to the police”.
The men were held as officers carried out raids on 12 locations across the country.
In July, officers raided Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Rangers football clubs as part of the investigation.
Redknapp was arrested as he returned to Britain after watching Rangers’ 3-2 defeat by Stuttgart in Germany on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
A spokesman for Portsmouth said on Wednesday the club’s chief executive and manager had “been asked to help police with their inquiries concerning a matter dating back to 2003” prior to the new owner taking control of the club in 2006.
He added that the club was “fully supportive of Peter and Harry”.
