Soccer:Harry Redknapp maintains he has still not been approached over the vacant England manager's position. Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite to succeed Fabio Capello, who resigned following a disagreement with the Football Association over their decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy for a second time.
Over two weeks have passed since the Italian walked out on his job, but the FA appear ready to wait until after next week’s friendly against Holland before making a move for their man, whether that be Redknapp, or any of the other managers linked with the post.
“No, I haven’t been approached,” Redknapp said today.
Redknapp has insisted that he will not leave Spurs, who currently sit third in the Premier League, before the end of the season, but maintains he would find it hard to turn the job down full-time.
England Under-21 and Olympic team manager Stuart Pearce will take charge of the national team for the Three Lions’ friendly against the Netherlands at Wembley on Wednesday and Redknapp is convinced that the former Manchester City boss will do a good job.
“I am sure he will do well,” Redknapp said. “I signed him as a player for West Ham and he was fantastic. I tried to sign him two years before but the chairman at West Ham at the time said ‘he’s too old Harry, he’s finished’.
“Then he went to Newcastle, didn’t do so great, but I took him to West Ham two years later and he was absolutely fantastic. He was top class.”
Redknapp’s admiration for Pearce is perhaps a hint that he would be happy to include the former England left-back as part of his coaching staff should he succeed Capello. Pearce is yet to name his captain for the friendly against the Netherlands, which was rescheduled following last year’s London riots.
Scott Parker is one of the bookmakers’ favourites for the position and Redknapp thinks the Spurs midfielder would do a great job if given the armband.
“It’s up to Stuart who he picks but Scotty would be a good captain,” said Redknapp, who signed Parker from West Ham last summer. “There are a lot of good candidates there but Scott has captained the team here a couple of times here this year and he is a fantastic boy, a great professional. You couldn’t get a better boy. He is a top-class person and a top-class player.“
Pearce has named a youthful squad for the game against the 2010 World Cup finalists, with the likes of Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand just two of the senior players to miss out. Redknapp is a big fan of both players but understands who Pearce has opted against including them.
“Stuart has brought a few young faces in and he wants to give them a chance to show what they can do,” Redknapp said. “There was no Rio, no Frank, and quite a few senior ones he knows about were left out as well. He has obviously gone for a team where he wants to look a few players.”
