'Do you a deal on a Pavlyuchenko guv'nor? Good as new, hardly been used.'

Premier League manager Harry ‘Del Boy’ Redknapp has unveiled an unusual legal defence on the second day of his trial for tax evasion in London.

The Tottenham Hotspur boss is being prosecuted for failure to declare tax on ‘commission’ he was paid on transfers while manager of Portsmouth from 2005 to 2008.

Diamond Geezer Redknapp stunned the court today by admitting to stashing hundreds of thousands of pounds in an offshore bank account but claiming he had been unaware of tax regulations having “lived my life by the code of Only Fools and Horses”, which he said he been under the impression was a “business documentary, like The Apprentice”.

Pressed by the confused prosecuting counsel to explain himself, Mr Redknapp responded with a portion of the lyrics of the long-running BBC television sitcom, singing: “No income tax, no VAT. No money back, no guarantee."

“It’s just business. Innit.”

When asked by the sceptical prosecutor whether he expected the jury to believe he took tax advice from a TV show, Redknapp replied “You can believe whatever you like you plonkers.”

In a passionate defence of his career and ‘wheeler dealer’ management reputation Redknapp pointed to his history of opposing racism in football and making large profits for the clubs he’s managed, vowing “Black or white, rich or broke. We'll cut prices at a stroke”.