FOR Jamie Redknapp, childhood was defined by Dean Court.

Already football-mad and with a Cherries manager for a father, it was logical for the youngster to while away the hours at the home of AFC Bournemouth.

In those days, thoughts of England honours and FA Cup and League Cup wins were a million miles away. Redknapp was just a kid with a dream.

“When I think about my childhood, my memories are all about Dean Court,” said Redknapp, who was raised in Christchurch and Ashley Heath.

“I used to go there every summer holiday and sometimes even during the school day – which was obviously not the right thing to do! But so much of my life was built around Bournemouth.

“I used to spend time in my dad’s office and help to clean the stands with the apprentices. I loved my time down there. It just felt so normal.”

Redknapp’s education at Twynham School in Christchurch interested him less, although it had its plus points.

“Twynham was a lovely school but I had the attention span of a gnat when it came to academic studies,” he said.

“But I had two teachers, Mr Jackson and Mr Broadwell, who were as big a help as anyone in my career and it’s only now I realise it.

"We’d spend hours playing badminton and lots of other sports that helped me with my sharpness and my feet and I loved it.”

Redknapp joined Tottenham as a 14-year-old but it was not to be a long and fruitful relationship. Two years in, he’d had enough.

“When I got to 16, I could see Tottenham’s reserves had a lot of good players that weren’t getting anywhere near the first team,” he said.

“I thought to myself, ‘I could get in Bournemouth’s first team’, which was very confident for a kid of that age.

“I told my dad I wanted to be at Bournemouth and we concocted an idea to say I was homesick – that was the only thing we could do!”

Having joined Cherries as a trainee, midfielder Redknapp made his Second Division debut as a substitute in the 4-1 win at Hull in January 1990.

Perhaps his most powerful memory of the clash was when he evaded the wrath of the home side's Billy Whitehurst.

“He was fuming because they were getting beaten and he was after some blood. He was after mine, to be honest!” said Redknapp.

“With my first touch, I got the ball away quickly to Paul Morrell because I thought he was going to tread all over me. As Mozzy played the ball up the line, Billy went flying in on him and knocked him about five feet in the air.

“Mozzy didn’t realise it was Billy and got up to have a go, and Billy lifted him off his feet! We were all standing there thinking, ‘I’d leave that one if I were you’.”

Redknapp made his full debut in a 4-1 loss at West Ham later that season before signing as a professional in the summer.

In the Division Three campaign that followed, the teenager became more involved. That meant more time in the changing room, which presented its own challenges.

“Even though I was the manager’s son, I was petrified of going in the dressing room because the senior players would slaughter you,” said Redknapp.

“The likes of Denny Mundee and John Williams were there then and I used to have to clean Luther Blissett’s boots. They were leather and he used to wet them before games and then claim they weren’t shiny.

"He has given me some stick for being a terrible boot boy but anyone would do well to shine wet boots!

“I think he used to do it because he wanted to keep my feet on the floor. I used to get a lot of stick off the players because every other day there would be a story in the Echo about me going to Liverpool.

“You could never get above your station there because the players wouldn’t have it.”

Redknapp went on to make nine appearances that season – making it 13 in total – before joining Liverpool for £350,000 in January 1991, with Alex Watson moving in the opposite direction.

“One of my last games was at Chester and I remember saying to my dad afterwards that I was ready to go,” said Redknapp.

“I felt I had made a bit of a name for myself and was confident. Saying that, I had never lived in a big city before and I cried my eyes out when I left my mum and dad.

“But it was something I felt I had to do and of course, I have no regrets about it now because I spent 11 great years at Liverpool.”