It was the sensational late transfer twist which had Portsmouth gripped.

But it was a look of unimagined horror rather than uncontained delight which hung on the faces of Blues followers.

From the moment Barton was rumoured to be a deadline day departure, there was Fratton Park furore.

Fortunately, it proved to be nothing more than a cruel hoax.

Nonetheless, the Newcastle bad boy's link with a top-10 Premier League side saw Pompey top of the list of suspects.

It was a possible arrival which had disgusted fans threatening to rip up season tickets and vowing to boycott future matches by means of protest.

But Redknapp has insisted any link with Barton was nothing but pure fantasy.

He said: 'I do not know where it came from because it's absolute rubbish.

'I have not even thought about it. It's just ridiculous, that's all I can say.

'I hadn't even seen the story on Sky.

'I was at Fulham watching our reserves play. Then all of a sudden people kept asking about Barton.

'People were ringing me up going on about him, but it was complete news to me – and you'd think I would know.

'It's one of those you have no idea where it comes from and suddenly every-one latches on to it and wants to talk about it.

'Sure I like him. Regardless of everything else he's a good player, but I wasn't looking to sign him. It hadn't even crossed my mind to be perfectly honest.

'What I do know is that there was no truth in it whatsoever. Something about a lot of nothing if you ask me.

'Besides, I had no money to buy anyone else. I thought everyone knew that.'

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