Redknapp cleared, but is he the right man for England?

SPURS boss Harry Redknapp is on the fast track to become the next manager of England after being cleared of tax evasion. He and businessman Milan Mandaric were acquitted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court today after a three-week trial revolving around £187,000 paid into a bank account in Monaco.
 
In the end the jury accepted Redknapp and Mandaric's claims that the deposits were part of an unsuccessful investment scheme rather than bonus payments relating to the transfer of Peter Crouch when Redknapp was manager of Portsmouth and Mandaric owned the club.
 
The men hugged when the verdict was read out and afterwards Redknapp said the experience had been a "nightmare" and that the case "should never have come to court".
 
It now seems certain that Redknapp will take over from Fabio Capello as England manager in the summer, or even sooner if the Italian's rift with the FA - over the sacking of captain John Terry - gets any worse.
 
But is Redknapp the right man for the job?
 
The FA has backed itself into a corner by promising that the next national manager would be an Englishman. It was a popular move with the fans, but it effectively reduced the number of realistic candidates to three or four.
 
Redknapp appears to be the stand-out contender, thanks to his experience and the fact that Spurs are flying high in the league.
 
However, Redknapp is no spring chicken. He will turn 65 next month and recently underwent a heart procedure. He may want the job but is he up to it?
 
His management style is also based, at least partly, on an ability to wheel and deal in the transfer market. Not an option when you are in charge of your country.
 
Redknapp might be the most successful English manager in the Premier League era, having led Portsmouth to the FA Cup and Spurs to the quarter finals of the Champions League, but during his trial he portrayed himself as, frankly, a dunce who could barely write and had no idea how to send texts and emails.
 
Rivals for the England job like Roy Hodgson, whose disastrous spell at Liverpool ended his chances, and Sam Allardyce, who was interviewed for the job in 2006, are out of the picture, but there is one manager that the FA would do well to consider. Newcastle boss Alan Pardew.
 
Like Redknapp, Pardew is a Londoner who once managed West Ham. He guided them out of Division One and back to the Premier League and also got them to the FA Cup final, where they lost to Liverpool. He almost saved Charlton from relegation and then almost got Southampton into the promotion play-offs despite a ten-point penalty for going into administration.
 
He is currently manager of Newcastle, who were widely tipped for relegation at the start of the season but now lie fifth in the table above Arsenal and Liverpool.
 
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. ·