on the pitch, redknapp established himself as a key midfielder during the time roy evans managed at anfield. he was one of a number of young players coming through the team, such as steve mcmanaman and robbie fowler, but was criticised together with them and others like stan collymore and jason mcateer as "spice boys" – a derogatory term that implied that the team were epitomising the lad culture in the game. redknapp, in particular, came to be the face of the team and was singled out because of his off-field lifestyle; often being described along with david james as a player more concerned with the catwalk and modelling shoots for fashion labels like top man and armani than his football prowess.