A year ago they were ready to shake each other warmly by the throat. Yesterday Milan Mandaric and Harry Redknapp shook hands amid smiles as an extraordinary managerial return finally reached its realisation. Anyone expecting clowns at Fratton Park to mark the occasion was disappointed but there was a timely airing of Love Me Do by The Beatles inside the stadium at one point and loud support from a gaggle of fans.

It would have been asking too much, though, for Redknapp's move back to Portsmouth to end without controversy or intrigue and that duly arrived. First, Southampton pointed to the money placed on Redknapp on betting exchanges and questioned their local rivals' conduct, drawing a tart response from Mandaric.

Then there was the mystery of how the wheels for Redknapp's return, on an initial six-month deal, were set in motion.

It is certain that a part was played by Frank Lampard senior, father of the Chelsea midfielder and brother-in-law and former West Ham United colleague of Redknapp. A few days after Alain Perrin was sacked, he attended Portsmouth's game at home to Chelsea to watch his son. A trip to the boardroom followed and a chat with the chairman ensued.

"About 10 days ago close relatives and friends of Harry came to me and told me Harry would love to come back and take the challenge," Mandaric revealed.

Redknapp's version was slightly different. "Frank Lampard came to the Chelsea game to watch his boy play," he said. "He rang me on his way home and said he'd had a chat with Milan and told me: 'I think he would like you back.' I said: 'No (it can't be true).' That's how it went from there. That was the first inkling I had of it."

Either way, Redknapp is back at Portsmouth, compensation with Southampton having been agreed.

"It took about one minute to sign a contract," he said. "I signed a contract without figures in it. I just said: 'Let's do it until the end of the season.' Milan said: 'Don't worry, I will look after you.'"

The 58-year-old Redknapp described a three- or four-year stay as his aim, with keeping Portsmouth up the first challenge. His future will be reassessed in the summer and he and Mandaric discussed last year's falling-out as if it was barely worth mentioning.

"Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the time together we had a fantastic relationship," Redknapp said, and Mandaric stated: "In two and half years he did for me what no one has done for me in football. A few words were put back and forth but it was influenced by a lot of third parties. There's nothing in the relationship gone wrong."

Mandaric can hardly deny, though, that the relationship between his club and Southampton is at a low again. Andrew Cowen, managing director at St Mary's, questioned the betting patterns on Redknapp's return.

"Money continued to back Harry for the Pompey job on the betting exchanges," he said. "Perhaps in future you should look at what happens there rather than what people say."

Betfair, which has a memorandum of understanding with the Football Association, said last night it was working with the FA to "check out the integrity of the market". Southampton's chairman Rupert Lowe added that the saga of Redknapp's move "had got to the stage of being an embarrassment for football" and said: "We do not believe that this episode has been conducted within the rules of the game and have made our understanding of the last week available to both the Premier League and the Football League."

Mandaric bit back. "I don't know what games he's talking about - hockey, rugby, football?" he said. "I have done everything properly. I consulted with Premier League people and I have done nothing wrong . . . I think they should have enough on their plate to worry about their football club than about Harry and us now."

As Portsmouth fans chanted Redknapp's and Mandaric's names, there was no sign of animosity towards the appointment, though the manager said: "I can understand some people not being happy still." The idea that he might take down the south-coast rivals in successive seasons was dismissed: "I never accept I took Southampton down," he said. "Southampton went down before I took it."

His move there came after the appointment of a director of football prompted his exit from Fratton Park. "I don't think he will go down that road again," Redknapp said of Mandaric. "He knows he doesn't need one at the moment while I'm here. I feel that's not a problem."