Lord Sugar Responds After Jamie Redknapp Issues Apology During Sky Coverage

Lord Alan Sugar has responded after ex-Tottenham captain Jamie Redknapp issued a formal apology to him while live on Sky Sports.

Redknapp claimed in September, during a segment on the departure of Daniel Levy, that Sugar had left Spurs 'in a mess' when he sold his majority stake in the club to ENIC in 2001.

Sugar spent 10 years as chairman of the club after teaming up with Terry Venables to buy it in 1991, and sold his remaining shares to ENIC in 2007.

After Redknapp's claims, Sugar threatened legal action against the 52-year-old, who joined Spurs a year after The Apprentice host stepped down as chairman.

And on Friday, during coverage of Bournemouth's Premier League fixture against Fulham on Friday, Sky Sports paused their coverage to allow Redknapp to issue an apology.

He said: "I said at the time that Lord Sugar left the club 'in a mess'.

"I just want to make clear that he stabilised the club and invested heavily during his time as chairman.

"When he took over in 1991, Spurs were close to bankruptcy, and by the time he stepped away the financial position had been turned around.

"I apologise to Lord Sugar and his family for any misunderstanding and for any distress caused, and am happy to set the record straight."

Sky Sports declined to comment further when approached by SPORTbible.

Shortly after Redknapp's apology, Sugar acknowledged his on-air comments and added that, 'as way of a further apology', £10,000 had been donated to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children's charity in London.

He has since posted a series of tweets - most of which are in response to Spurs fans.

Sugar claimed that Sky and Redknapp 'will pay their [legal] bill', and when one fan claimed he had left the club 'in a mess', he responded: "You are a idiot. Brainless!"

When asked whether he would accept Redknapp's apology, the 78-year-old simply replied: "Yes."

Sugar was born in east London and initially made his fortune from founding and running consumer electronics company Amstrad - which used the initials of his full name Alan Michael Sugar.

After his Spurs takeover, the club won one trophy - the 1999 League Cup - during his time in charge.