Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce has paid tribute to one of football's survivors ahead of Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Portsmouth.

Allardyce said: "When you have lasted as long as Harry Redknapp has and started when he started and you are getting to your 60th birthday having just signed a three-and-a half-year deal, that says it all.

"He is, as a manager, one of the best in this country and has not been given the credit for it for one reason or another.

"He has been a terrific manager over the years and is now taking a Portsmouth side for the second time and not only dragged them from the depths of relegation from the Championship and into the Premier League, he has taken them from the depths of relegation from the Premier League and into a top eight - or maybe even a top-six - side this year.

"It just shows that the man is extremely clever in how he goes about his job as a manager."

He continued: "He has spent a lot of money for a club like Portsmouth, but very wisely because of his international contacts.

"That is where I have come from over the last six or seven years, by building up the contacts internationally so the fear of buying a foreign player is perhaps less than other managers in the Premier League.

"That's where Harry has masterminded most of his managerial success, and he is, at the moment, doing very well that way.

"Then, of course, he picks up very experienced players who have played in the Premier League for a long time - Hermann Hreidarsson, Sol Campbell and David James are typical of that.

"He has a fantastic backbone now and some very high energy, very skilful players who he has brought in from abroad."