Harry Redknapp favourite to take Capello's job – but should he be?

FABIO CAPELLO'S decision to quit as England football manager has come as a shock to the football world, even though he was known to be furious with the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy without his knowledge.

For many, the Italian's departure couldn't have come on a better day. Just hours before Capello quit, Harry Redknapp was cleared of cheating the taxman. "Now Give it To Cleared Redknapp" says The Sun.

Redknapp is also the bookies' favourites and received a ringing endorsement from Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill. "If there's anyone to succeed Fabio it's Happy Redknapp," he said. "I think Harry Redknapp will be the next England manager and he deserves it."

Wayne Rooney tweeted on Wednesday night: "Gutted Capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be English to replace him. Harry Redknapp for me."

In The Times, Simon Barnes suggests Redknapp would be a welcome relief after the "disaster" of Capello's reign. "You can say what you like about Redknapp, he has a fair old handle on the game of football as played in England.

"He has none of Capello's credentials as a renaissance man, a lover of fine painting and a serious collector and cosmopolitan — but in the backlash from Capello's four years of calamity, the London vowels of Redknapp sound like the voice of sweet sanity. If England wants to go back to its good old insular roots, Redknapp is made for the job."

However, others are urging caution. We all know what Redknapp has said in the past: "I'm English, who wouldn't want to manage England? There's not an Englishman… who would turn the job down because it's our country and we want to manage our country."

But that was the summer of 2010 – and a lot has changed. Tottenham are riding high – currently third in the table – and Redknapp has just come through a gruelling experience in court.

Gareth Southgate, the FA's head of elite development, told the BBC: "Harry Redknapp is one of leading candidates but Tottenham will have something to say about that and Daniel Levy [the Tottenham chairman] is not going to want Harry to leave without a fight, so there's an awful lot to work out in the next few weeks."

Then there's the age factor. As Jonathan Harwood writes for The Week, Redknapp turns 65 next month and perhaps the FA should perhaps be looking for a younger man. "Alan Pardew may lack the media skills and profile of a figure like Redknapp, but the Newcastle man might make a better long-term bet than a flamboyant wheeler-dealer like Redknapp".

David Hytner in The Guardian believes that if Redkapp is offered the England job, he will be torn. "Redknapp enjoys what he has built at Tottenham, the day-to-day involvement with players and staff, the team's style and, in terms of results, things could not have gone much better. No one would walk away from this lightly, particularly when the journey is incomplete."

Then there's the relentless media spotlight on the England job. "Redknapp is known to worry about the potential for serious personal abuse in the England role," says Hytner. "There is a logic that says Redknapp has never had it so good, that he should sit tight and prosper at White Hart Lane. Logic, though, does not always apply in 21st-century football."

Paul Kelso in The Daily Telegraph concludes: "After a deeply stressful fortnight in court, Redknapp may decide that the heightened profile of the England job might be best avoided." ·