Some years ago I remember sitting in the south stand of Spurs’ White Hart Lane stadium asking, with thousands of others, for Harry to “give us a wave”, and I still can feel the joy and excitement when he complied. For all English football fans, Harry Redknapp was reminiscent of the old English gaffer, a no-nonsense bloke who inspired loyalty with a mix of ferocious discipline and unrivalled charisma. Yet when Harry walked into the Gladstone Room at the Oxford Union, there was no halo surrounding this bringer of glory to the game of football. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the local Morrison’s near his home in Sandbanks.

It is his down to earth demeanour that first strikes me when we are introduced. We could have been two blokes introduced in the pub rather than in the grandiose surroundings of the historic Union. As we begin to chat, it becomes clear that Harry is going to be open, honest and frank about his experiences and his opinions but even so, like any good sportsman would, I decie to warm up first.

A series of quickfire questions brings some expected and unexpected results. Favourite player managed? “Gareth Bale – you never knew when he was going to do something special.” Central midfield partner for himself, Jamie (his son) or Frank Lampard (his nephew)? “Both were big talents in their day, and as much as I hate to do this, it’s got to be Frank – such a threat in front of goal”.

Turning towards his colourful career, I am hesitant to bring up his infamous BBC interview regarding his status as a ‘wheeler dealer’ for fear of being on the receiving end of a few choice expletive laden turns of phrase. Instead I decide to focus on some of his more unconventional career moves, including that infamous switch between south coast rivals Portsmouth and Southampton. Did he regret it? “No,” he replies firmly, before explaining that he doesn’t “mind the aggro”. This leads to one of the many unbelievable stories that come from having a career as long and as varied as his, where the animosity upon his return from Southampton to Portsmouth meant that he “had six SAS men on the coach!” in order to ensure security for him and his players. This story seems extraordinary for most but when put into context with some of his other tales, it’s clear that no part of Redknapp’s life is normal. He has spent a night with Eden Hazard in a Paris hotel room, and he has dashed to Heathrow to catch Amdy Faye and make him sign for Portsmouth by threatening him with a bite “where it hurts” from his beloved bulldogs. On the most difficult players to manage, he is hesitant about recounting a debate with Paulo Futre at West Ham over the number 10 shirt. Futre had worn the shirt at all his previous clubs, but was allocated number 16 at West Ham. The next day, the player arrived at training with a team of lawyers ready to negotiate a deal for the number change. Just another day at the office for Redknapp.

Moving on to his more recent experiences, I bring up the drama surrounding his exit from Tottenham and the furore over the possibility of him taking up the helm of the national team. On his exit from Tottenham, he claims that he “didn’t see it coming”. Neither, of course, did the Spurs fans who mourned the loss of one of their most successful managers. However, my fellow Spurs fans will be buoyed by the news that he believes they can go on to win the league this season. “It’s wide open,” he claims, before suggesting that any Premier League season where Leicester is sitting on top and have a “great chance” means we’re “short of a great team this year.”

On the subject of England, he says that it certainly “looked like I was going to get the England job” and even claims that if he was a betting man the odds would have been 1/10. In retrospect though, he has no regrets and isn’t even sure he was cut out for it because of the “load of old farts at the FA” and the fact that he enjoys the “day to day” aspects of managing a club. Despite all this, he holds no grudges and certainly believes England have a chance this summer with such a young and talented squad with the likes of Dele Alli, who “looks a great lad” as well as Stirling and Kane.

On wider footballing issues, Harry is optimistic when questioned about footballers coming out, saying that “things have changed for the better,” although he recognises the difficulties surrounding these issues. “It’s a difficult situation…you never know how supporters are going to react,” he muses. On money in the game, he is more damning, arguing adamantly that the funding in the UK is too top-heavy. “More needs to be put down to lower levels because facilities for kids are terrible,” he says.

Looking to the future, will English fans ever see the man they call ‘Arry back in a dugout? The man himself doubts it, saying, “I’ve had such a long spell…I started to get weary.” Opening up about his new-found relaxed life he tells me how he enjoys “doing bits with BT” and “watching Bournemouth with the grandkids.” Football is never far away, and he says that having “left school with no qualifications” he “would have been a docker,” but instead he lived for football.

He admits he still loves watching football; “It’s my life,” he says, and what a life in the beautiful game it’s been

When it comes to watching sports, nothing compares to being live at the action. Soaking in the match, one can partake in all manner of live experiences – like high-fiving the stranger next to you when things are going right, or shaking your heads in melancholic unison when the tide turns. Next would probably either be watching the game at home or at the local pub, ideally with your family and mates with a large bowl of whatever snack you can afford that weekend. And then, for most university students trapped in their rooms during term-time, you have the “I’m watching the game in my room by myself whilst crying over some microeconomics and force-feeding myself pesto pasta” scenarios – that’s honestly too painful to talk about. But what if I told you that, for a small bit of fortune, virtual reality can combine the excitement of watching the game live with the convenience of lazing in the comfort of your own house to produce the sport-watching experience of a lifetime?

As we enter 2016, sport is at the very forefront of a process that many hope will lead to the emergence of virtual reality as the premier channel for the distribution of visual content.

History was made before the beginning of the 2015-16 NBA season when the Golden State Warriors season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans became the first ever sporting event to be live streamed in virtual reality to ‘the public’, which in this case meant the few who owned a Samsung Gear VR headset. Although reports claim that the experience was actually woeful, citing blurriness and overheating of equipment as some of the main issues, it was nonetheless a significant milestone when you put it in perspective. Indeed, when the NBA announced that it was experimenting with virtual reality during the 2013-2014 season, many responded with scepticism, yet what was originally believed to be a pipe dream has actually become reality.

Concerns and criticisms of just how realistic virtual reality can really be are very much legitimate for now, but technology has a tendency to improve and there is every reason to believe that, as time goes on, we will be seeing a lot of progress with regards to quality – as NextVR co-founder D.J. Roller expressed after the Golden State match back in late October, “This is the worst VR experience you’ll ever have”. Faith in virtual reality is only boosted by the fact that VR systems from Facebook, Samsung, Sony and HTC are expected to hit the market over the next year, which at the very least is an indication that tech-specialists are expecting virtual reality to be something that people are going to enjoy over the course of the next decade or so. The situation with virtual reality is similar to that of live-streaming only a couple of years ago – I remember trying to watch a football game on my dad’s desktop all the way back in 2006 and having to put icepacks on my eyes afterwards due to the physical stress of having to focus on the Thierry Henry pixel for 90 minutes. Flash forward 10 years and live-streaming has become a common way worldwide of enjoying sports. If we were able to show the internet such patience, why can’t we do the same for virtual reality?

A much bigger objection could come from sports traditionalists, who cry that the spirit of sports is lost through technology and that a true sports fan would never be complacent enough to just watch sports from a headset. To these people, I say: boo-hoo. Firstly, no one is saying that virtual reality will replace actual reality – it’s simply providing another option for people who can’t make it to the game itself and allowing them to fully enjoy the match. Why can’t an Arsenal fan from Los Angeles or Shanghai fully submerge himself into the intensity of the game just because he or she realistically cannot make it to the Emirates? Secondly, virtual reality has the potential of not only making the match-watching experience more entertaining, but also providing a more holistic fan experience, from being at the post-match interviews or gaining an insight into the training regimen of their favourite athletes.

As Uninterrupted CEO Maverick Carter summarized, “What fans want more than anything is to be in the car with LeBron and his 13-year-old son as he gets prepared mentally for his thirteenth season.” Virtual reality can make this a legitimate possibility, and as technology continues to make the impossible look probable, sports and sports fans alike should embrace the changes that are sure to be coming

I have had two experiences of European football, touring Madrid and then Amsterdam. Given the questions regularly asked about the gulf between England and their continental neighbours, I was intrigued. Why does Spain have the finest passing side in world football whilst England struggles to shake its reputation for a direct and workmanlike style?

The theories are abundant, and the report produced by FA chairman Greg Dyke did little to trim the list. A popular hypothesis is the contrasting upbringing of our players and the world-beaters of traditional football power nations, like Brazil, Argentina and Spain. It is suggested that, where hardship forms an unshakeable will to improve and succeed, the same incentive is simply not present in the English game.

Whilst Luis Suárez was playing shoeless football on the streets Uruguay, England’s starlets were progressing in multi-million pound academies, chasing the promise of absurdly lucrative professional contracts. As Rio Ferdinand recently mused at the Oxford Union, how do we expect our young footballers to progress when they are given the world by 18? The days of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes or Gary Neville having to clean Eric Cantona’s boots to earn the respect of their club’s first team and continue their progression are an increasingly distant memory.

However, the time I have spent on tour has left me believing that there is another explanation, which is equally crucial. It is no coincidence that, when facing a strong Dutch side, we were forced to play for long periods without the ball. Many of the young footballers of Holland and Spain are brought up on pristine artificial surfaces. They are taught a mentality that leaves them wanting to pass the ball, to move and to preserve possession. What’s more, they are given the facilities and the opportunities to do it. The English youth system is a stark contrast; our youngest players are rushed on to 11-a-side pitches that are too big for them.

These are the same pitches that are often slanted, uneven and overgrown. As a result, we see a style of play that is physical and direct, more from necessity than choice.

Every young player wants to win and, for too many in England, the conditions they face make a technical approach virtually impossible. It is no surprise that, even at the highest level, our national teams often lack the skills to successfully compete on the biggest stage.

By providing our young players with 3G facilities, we will exponentially improve their chances of developing the technical skills the highest level requires.

Reducing the emphasis on results and the delaying the transition to eleven-a-side will only help. Until the English game commits to such fundamental changes, I cannot envisage an end to England’s dearth of international success