Big names backing Redknapp
Does he stick with a Tottenham side flying high in the Premier League, in with a shout of a first title since 1961?
Or does he fulfil a dream of managing England, gambling on becoming a hero at Euro 2012?
According to former Wales manager Mark Hughes, now at QPR, he can’t do both.
Redknapp is the favourite to take the England reins after Fabio Capello’s resignation.
Football Association chairman David Bernstein yesterday said he would keep an open mind to candidates wanting to take the role alongside existing club commitments.
But Hughes, who led Wales out against England and Poland after taking the Blackburn post in 2004, warned it is a bit too much to ask of a manager.
“I used to change my opinion in that regard,” the QPR manager said.
“Sometimes I felt it was possible to do both and then not. I did the role part-time and took charge of Wales for two games while a club manager, which I felt quite difficult.
“I think it would be a little bit unrealistic to be able to expect to do a high-level job and the national team. I think it is a little bit too much.”
On who should be England’s next manager, he added: “I am not particularly interested because I am Welsh, but I think it is clear to everybody that there is one candidate.”
Meanwhile England defender Rio Ferdinand aimed a parting shot at Capello, and identified Redknapp as the best man to replace him.
Ferdinand, who has already ruled himself out of the running to succeed Terry as captain, wrote on Twitter that the national team “don’t need anything else lost in translation” — an apparent dig at Italian Capello, whose poor command of the English language saw him face criticism during his four years in charge.
Ferdinand wrote: “I think we need an English manager now, we don’t need anything else lost in translation....Harry Redknapp would be my choice by a distance.”
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew — who has ruled himself out for the vacant post — believes Redknapp is the obvious candidate.
“I really, really hope that Harry and Spurs and everybody sorts themselves out and can do it in a manner in which it works for everybody.”
FA chairman David Bernstein yesterday denied forcing Fabio Capello out of the England job but admitted the Football Association did not fight to keep the Italian.
And the man at the top of the English game insisted the FA got it “absolutely right” stripping Terry of the captaincy last week, despite initially allowing him to remain in the role following allegations he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, something the Chelsea skipper denies.
It was this u-turn that triggered Capello’s departure, with the 65-year-old having publicly disagreed with the FA board’s decision in an interview for Italian television on Sunday.
Efforts at a reconciliation failed spectacularly, leaving England searching for a new manager four months before the start of the European Championships.
“There was no ultimatum,” said Bernstein, who explained he and FA general secretary Alex Horne met with Capello initially for an hour-long “question-and-answer” session. “He was put under no pressure at all.”
According to Bernstein, there was then a cooling-off period before he went to see Capello again an hour later, when the Italian then offered his resignation.
“I don’t think we encouraged it,” Bernstein said. “Sometimes, during these sorts of meetings, a feel emerges from the participants. I can’t read Fabio’s mind but, an hour later, when I went into his office to carry on the conversations, he came up with the desire to come out of this post.”
Horne added: “There was no point in having a manager who didn’t want to be in the job.”
Fabio Capello was expensive — but he was not a mistake, Football Association chairman David Bernstein yesterday insisted following the Italian’s resignation. Here we look at how the Capello cash — close to £40million — compares to other sums in football finance.
£40m is
* Four years of Fabio Capello’s £6m-a-year salary and £4m annually on his entourage.
* Six times the £7m prize money received by the FA for England’s 2010 World Cup campaign.
* 40% of the £100m cost of building the FA’s national football centre.
* The entire £30million annual budget for the Football Foundation which ploughs money into grassroots projects, plus £10m to spare.
* Seven years of the £6m public funding put into football by the British Government annually.
* 13% of the FA’s £304m total turnover in 2010, and more than four times the £9m profit made by the FA in that year.
* Two failed England World Cup bids — £21m was spent on the failed attempt to land the 2018 tournament.
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