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Jon Dunham - England can afford to wait for Harry
There’s little doubt that Harry Redknapp appears to be everybody’s favourite to become the new manager of England in the wake of Fabio Capello’s messy departure.
As a big England fan myself, I firmly believe the Tottenham Hotspur manager is the right man for the job.
First off, he is English. The foreign manager experiment hasn’t worked.
But most importantly, he has proved himself to be tactically astute. The job he has done at White Hart Lane can’t be underestimated.
He has turned a club that was struggling when he arrived into one of the major forces and title contenders in the Barclays Premier League.
I have no doubt that he will get the job and I also have no doubts that he wants it – there isn’t an English manager out there who would turn the opportunity down.
The question is how it’s done.
The decision to place Stuart Pearce in charge for the friendly with Holland at the end of this month is about as sensible as it gets from the FA these days.
He knows the squad and is more than capable of leading them into a game that isn’t all that important.
After that, if Redknapp is the man then he should be appointed as soon as possible but must be allowed to finish the season with Spurs. They have a shot at the title and, at the very least, getting into the Champions League.
Then once the domestic season is over, he can then concentrate on getting things ready for Euro 2012.
Let’s face it, after the upheaval this week, there won’t be any pressure on any incoming manager to go out to Poland and Ukraine and win the tournament.
Redknapp, by his nature, will be cut some slack anyway simply because he is English and universally popular with the fans and media.
If it is to be him then Spurs must be looked after and I am sure they will ensure they look after themselves anyway.
But this could be a very simple situation.
Get the Holland game out of the way, get Redknapp appointed and then get the preparations for the summer started only when the season is over.
On this occasion, England and the FA can afford to wait for the only real candidate for the job.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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Wind direction: East
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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John Downes
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 11:56 AMI hope that Redknapp has the strength of character to turn down the England manager's job. The job is a poison chalice. Yes, the newspapers are baying for Redknapp's appointment. Remember Kevin Keegan, "the people's choice"? How long was it before the people chose otherwise, and how short was his stay was before he resigned? Then there was the staid and stolid Eriksson. It is not true that people don't want a foreigner for the English team. Eriksson was welcomed with open arms. One guy was on the radio with a song he had written called "I Love Sven", which contained such poetic lines like: "We used to have a turnip, and now we have a Swede." Capello, too, was enthusiastically welcomed. The media and the fans turned on them both. Remember Glen Hoddle, who expressed a religious view shared by a sizable proportion of the world's population? The media turned on him while senior politicians figuratively shouted encouragement from the touchlines, as he was hounded out of his job. Redknapp, if he is foolish enough to accept this job, will be ruined in time just like the others. Because the truth of the matter is, although there is a stock market-style frenzy every time there is a competition with "We're going all the way," the England team are not that good. With one or two exceptions, the team are aging carthorses, its first-choice goalkeeper the biggest flapper since Clara Bow. They won't be winning anything. When they lose, we all buy the red tops, so we can read with relish the insults hurled at the team and their manager. If the fans and the media are not bad enough, there are the stuffed shirts at the FA, telling you whom not to appoint as your team captain. Discretion really is the greater part of valor. Stay at Tottenham, Harry. The England job is just not worth it.
KEEP ME NUT DOWN
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 05:43 PM@JOHN DUNHAM Nice reporting John !!! any chance of having a word with Harry Redkanpp and letting him know of the help that Kettering Town needs at the moment. After all said and done Spurs have been invited guests up here pre season. Maybe he could sell his bet dog Rosies Villa and throw a bone our way. !!!
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