Spurs manager Harry Redknapp sparked laughs in court today as he described his affection for pet bulldog Rosie.

The Tottenham Hotspur boss said he named his Monaco account after her because "I loved her to bits".

Redknapp explained that he had to add his birth date to the name as there was another Monaco HSBC account called Rosie.

When prosecutor John Black QC suggested someone else might have had a dog by the same name, Redknapp said: "Or wife".

He added: "If she was as nice as Rosie they have got a good wife."

When asked whether he chose the name himself after flying out to the tax haven in 2002, Redknapp said: Of course I chose the name, Rosie's my dog. I loved her to bits.

"When you ring up you have to give a name - I thought I had to have a name there, Rosie was my dog."

Redknapp told the prosecutor that he was aware that the sums being transferred were large amounts.

He said: "I was brought up in the east end of London, Mr Black, in a very poor family. I know it's a lot of money."

Redknapp said that if he had not told the Quest inquiry about the Monaco account the issue would be "dead".

Other football managers did not voluntarily declare accounts, he told the jury.

"As I have said many times Mr Black, If I don't go to Quest and tell them about that account, nobody knows," Redknapp said.

The 2006 Quest investigation into English football was led by Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

"Half the managers didn't even tell them," Redknapp said. "If I didn't tell them it's dead."

The first charge of cheating the public revenue alleges that between April 1 2002 and November 28 2007 Mandaric paid 145,000 US dollars (£93,100) into the account.

The second charge for the same offence relates to a sum of 150,000 US dollars (£96,300) allegedly paid between May 1 2004 and November 28 2007.

Redknapp, who underwent minor heart surgery last year to unblock his arteries, is the most successful English manager in the modern game, having led Portsmouth to FA Cup success and Spurs to last season's Uefa Champions League quarter-finals.

Serbian Mandaric is now chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, having previously worked at Leicester City.

Both Redknapp, 64, and Mandaric, 73, deny two counts of cheating the public revenue.