Harry, Sorry, 'arry Redknapp has got a reputation for being a wheeler-dealer, forever on his mobile at the training ground lining up yet another transfer coup.

The loveable Pompey boss may be a flat cap short of Del Boy, but to merely label Redknapp a barrow-boy manager is to ignore the complex and thorough job he's done at Fratton Park.

Redknapp's first visit to Man United in his second spell with Pompey came in December 2005, when his team included such luminaries as John Viafara, Andy Griffin, Salif Diao and Jamie Ashdown.

Just 26 months - or five transfer windows - later, the squad includes internationals like David James, Jermain Defoe, Lassana Diarra and Niko Kranjcar. Some difference.

While a cash injection has helped dramatically, it's not what you spend, but how you spend it. Sol Campbell was the key buy in the summer of 2006. Outstanding in his first season, he persuaded David James - statistically the Premier League's best keeper in 2007 - to join Pompey's bandwagon.

Kanu was another typical Redknapp deadline-day free transfer and the leggy Nigerian, who has God-like status on his continent, has since persuaded African stars Sulley Muntari and John Utaka that Fratton Park was the place to be.

While the Fratton faithful were gutted at the loss of Gary O'Neil and Matty Taylor, their sacrifice allowed the purchases of Diarra, Glen Johnson and Papa Bouba Diop - a move low on sentimentality, but high on common sense.

The arrival of the cup-tied Defoe was another step up, even if it meant losing the popular-but-peaking Benjani to fund the deal. Forward thinking. Always improving. The Redknapp way.

Yes, he may move players around like second-hand cars on his sales lot, but there is method to his madness.

It'll take a big performance to progress. But who knows - this time next week Rodney, Pompey could be Wembley semi-finalists.