Councillors argued for 90 minutes yesterday about whether to award the civic honour to the Pompey manager and his squad before delaying the decision over a technicality.

Council rules say the Freedom of the City can only be decided at a special meeting – not at full council.

So now another meeting will be held on Thursday next week when councillors are expected finally to give appproval.

As reported in The News, a bitter row erupted between Portsmouth's two biggest political parties after Lib Dem leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson put forward a notice of motion saying Harry and the team should get the honour – without consulting the Tories.

Independent councillor Leo Madden yesterday slammed both groups, saying: 'We are making ourselves look ridiculous.

'People do not understand bureaucracy – they just want the team that won the FA Cup to be given an honour by the city as soon as possible.'

Yesterday's argument was over whether the whole team should be included in the honour. Tories claimed it should just be FA Cup medal holders.

Eventually all parties agreed the wording should read 'Harry Redknapp and the 2008 FA Cup winning squad'.

But council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson came under fire from Tory opposition councillors who blamed him for not following proper procedures – which meant the honour couldn't be bestowed on the team yesterday.

Tory member Simon Bosher described the situation as 'a complete pantomime which makes the council look stupid'.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said he was forced to push the motion through after the Tory group failed to give the move their backing.

'I think for what the team have done for the city they deserve it, and I thought that it has been two months since they won and we really need to come to a conclusion.'