Owen Coyle has pitted his managerial wits against some of the finest coaches in world football during Burnley's run to the Carling Cup semi-finals, yet he has admitted that Harry Redknapp will be his hardest opponent.

Coyle outfoxed Luiz Felipe Scolari, Arsene Wenger and Roy Hodgson to help set up his side's two-legged tie with Tottenham Hotspur but claimed yesterday that it is Redknapp who he has most respect for.

The 42-year-old said the Tottenham manager is "an inspiration" to him ahead of their first-leg meeting at White Hart Lane this evening.

That is quite an accolade given he has already overcome Fulham's Hodgson, Chelsea's Scolari and Arsenal's Wenger to leave his promotion- chasing Coca-Cola Championship side just two steps from Wembley.

"From my own personal development, it has been a great experience as you want to pit yourself against the best whether as a player or as a manager," said Coyle. "I have faced Wenger twice, once in the FA Cup. Scolari is a World Cup winner with Brazil - it does not get much better than that. Hodgson is a top coach in world football and I have immense respect for him.

"Harry Redknapp, in particular, is an inspiration to any young manager. He has worked his socks off to get to where he is. He certainly never followed a glamour route in terms of where he started.

"In football there is sometimes an element who go for what you would call a sexy appointment. Maybe someone who has been a fantastic player but has no real coaching badges. Harry has shown that having been at the coal face and worked hard wherever he has been, that's the route you want to go down and develop yourself."

Redknapp had hoped to have signed Jermaine Defoe in time for tonight's game but it is thought Tottenham and Portsmouth are still £1.5m apart on the England striker's valuation.

As ever, the London club have treated the opening of the January transfer window as something akin to a Woolworths closing down sale.

Yesterday, their second bid for Stewart Downing was rejected by Middlesbrough, who have been infuriated by what they perceive as Tottenham's attempts to unsettle the player. The north-east club have turned down a written transfer request from Downing and say the matter is now at an end. However, it has been suggested that they will be willing to deal with Tottenham if the Londoners return with an offer closer to the £15m mark.

Redknapp had his own version of events regarding both transfers. "The chairman and Peter Storrie Portsmouth chief executive are trying to do a deal," he said of the Defoe negotiations. "Unless they do a deal, we'll move on. If they want to do a deal they will.

"It's their choice to say he is not for sale. I wouldn't have sold him if I was manager at Portsmouth and Tottenham came back in, I'd be keeping him.

"It's the same with Stewart Downing, I wouldn't sell him if I didn't want to," Redknapp said. "If they want to leave, they have their reasons. If Defoe has got reasons why he wants to come back to Tottenham, fine."