Jury out again in Redknapp trial

The Tottenham Hotspur boss, 64, and co-defendant Milan Mandaric, 73, both deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when Redknapp was manager of Portsmouth.

The eight men and four women jurors have been warned to ignore footballing matters during their deliberations.

Judge Anthony Leonard has said he will accept only unanimous verdicts.

He has told Southwark Crown Court: "Football is an emotive subject, stirring in an individual anything from deep passion to resentment.

"It has become so commercial that it may be thought by some to have lost its way."

But the judge added in his summing-up: "This case is not about football but about allegations of tax fraud."

The Crown says deposits totalling £189,000 ($277,000) in a Monaco account were bonuses related to Portsmouth Football Club.

At least one of the payments was related to the £3 million profit the club made on the sale of England striker Peter Crouch to Aston Villa, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Jurors were warned by the prosecution to "keep their eyes on the ball" when they consider their verdicts.

But Redknapp's barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, said some of the Crown's evidence is "repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness".

Mandaric's QC, Lord Macdonald, said the prosecution was "really flailing" with "paper-thin" explanations for the Monaco payments.

"We say the evidence against him is hopelessly weak," he said.

The first charge of cheating the public revenue alleges that between April 1 2002 and November 28 2007 Mandaric paid $US145,000 ($134,000) into the account.

The second charge for the same offence relates to a sum of $US150,000 allegedly paid between 1 May 2004 and 28 November 2007.