Harry to C'Arry England

Harry Redknapp, has a pretty impressive track record when it comes to managing at club level, but international football isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Especially when it comes to England, the pressure multiplies tenfold. The English media is as fickle-minded as the hype surrounding English football on the whole.

Perform or perish is the straight forward formula they feed on, but then that would be too harsh on Fabio Capello, who won 67% of the games he was in charge (the highest by any England manager ever). Not a bad output by any standards, yet he failed see through his contract says a lot about the FA, and more so about the extremely lofty standards they have set. It’s more about handling the expectations of a nation driven by its craze for football, than just handling the inflated egos of a squad full of supremely talented individuals.

That’s where Harry comes in. Brilliant man managing skills, fosters a healthy environment wherever he goes the results follow. But, is the England hot seat asking too much of a manager only proved at club level that too with players not as “big”, at least on the ego front? You would hope not.

For the sake of the national team, all the odds support English managers to succeed the outgoing Fabio. At the very least, it would help in communication between the board and the staff, and prevent PR debacles like the Terry saga.

Now moving on from the off-field gimmicks to the ones on the pitch. It would be interesting to see, how and to effect can Harry change England on the football field. Post WC2010, Fabio had been pretty flexible in his system, playing a wide range of formations depending on the players available to him, the masterstroke being the 1-0 defeat of Spain where England absorbed all the pressure and poked in a goal to win.

Harry as we know, is a very firm 4-4-2 loyalist, and has been able to get the best out of his players in the same.

Now with the aging legs of Lampard and Gerrard, it would be very interesting to see, how Harry fits them in a system, especially when the resurgence of Scott Parker continues to make him one of the first names on the team-sheet.

England national team coach is a dream job for any manager, and is held in high regard, and it’s time England get their share due of dignity, thus shaking off the tag of “perennial underachievers”.

Surely the resignation and Harry getting the clearance from the tax evasion charges is no co-incidence. The crisis has been created and Fabio has resigned.

It’s time for someone to step up. It’s time for Harry. England calling…

Written by Debarshee MitraFollow on Twitter @goonerstar_deb