Harry Redknapp Should Choose England over Tottenham Hotspur

Considering Gareth Bale's penchant for deceitfulness on the pitch, the Tottenham winger's recent comments about his manager, Harry Redknapp were refreshingly honest in their assessment.

“We all want Harry to stay but he is a great manager and if England do come calling it’s one of those lifetime opportunities that you just can’t turn down," Bale told The Sun newspaper.

That has been the core of the issue since Fabio Capello's resignation as England manager in February (at least on the Redknapp side of things, the Football Association's role is complicated in other ways). Is managing his country's national team more important to Redknapp than his continued attempts to bring success to Tottenham?

Besides the unsurprising knowledge that he wasn't willing to leave Spurs before the season's end, Redknapp's intentions should the FA come calling remain unknown.

But there will likely be a point soon when the seemingly inevitable first-choice candidate has to decide, either ahead of the European Championships or for the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign.

In the opinion of this writer, Redknapp should choose England.

Redknapp Is the Favourite

Firstly, Redknapp deserves to be acknowledged as the general favourite for the England job.

After two foreign head coaches in the past decade (Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson), an actual Englishman is once more wanted to helm the national team.

Unlike Steve McClaren, who came in between the aforementioned two, the experienced Redknapp is viewed as someone with the know-how and personality to manage both the egos assembled in an international squad and the constraints that come with limited access to those players.

That is a valid argument for the criteria at this level, especially when you look at tournament-winning managers of the past four World Cups and European Championships:

World Cup year	Winning manager (age at the time)	European Championship year	Winning manager (age at the time)
2010 - Spain	Vicente del Bosque (59)	2008 - Spain	Luis Aragonés (69)
2006 - Italy	Marcello Lippi (58)	2004 - Greece	Otto Rehhagel (65)
2002 - Brazil	Luiz Felipe Scolari (53)	2000 - France	Roger Lemerre (58/59)
1998 - France	Aimé Jacquet (56)	1996 - Germany	Berti Vogts (49)

Being older is not essential, but experience seems somewhat vital. Vogts is perhaps the exception here. Unlike the others listed he did not have substantial (or any) club experience as a coach.

But he had been involved with the German camp for sometime before being appointed full-time manager in 1990. Which in itself may be viewed as a valid form of experience.

There are exceptions to the rule, however. Vogts' predecessor Franz Beckenbauer was just 44-years-old when he managed West Germany to the World Cup at Italia '90. But generally experience is a useful tool at this level, and Redknapp has this in abundance.

Those years in the lower echelons of English football with Bournemouth, followed up by a name-making spell at West Ham United, led to a successful spell at Portsmouth (either side of a failed one at their south-coast rivals Southampton) where he won the FA Cup. He has since used the lessons learned through these decades in making Tottenham a firm fixture in England's top six.

Extremely knowledgeable and indeed passionate about football, he is both an effective manager and a likable front man to represent England on the world stage.

His relationship with the media is strong enough he should not suffer a level of criticism previous managers received. He's such a good manager that the hope is he won't need it. Redknapp is without doubt the best of any realistic options to be his country's new manager.

Patriotism Just About over Legacy

Bale's reasoning, quoted at the top of the article, is the main reason why Redknapp should choose country over club.

Some would argue that reaching the top at international football is no longer the pinnacle of the game, that instead to lead a club to consistent domestic and (especially) European success is a far greater achievement.

In reality it is a comparison that is made unfairly, as both are so remarkable in their own right. But to win with your country is something special beyond comparison.

The best case scenario should he stay at Tottenham is a very good one. Taking the talented team he has primarily assembled to the club's first league title in over 50 years while making them a consistent presence in the Champions League would be extraordinary.

It would ensure Redknapp's place as one of the best club managers in English football history, and along the way would provide him the extreme satisfaction of having bested the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. As a competitive manager, that would mean a great deal to anyone.

As much as this would mean for both his legacy and to the Tottenham faithful, the thought of winning a European Championship or World Cup with England must be even more tantalising.

That essentially is why international football retains a lustre that club football cannot compare with.

It is not even a case of just winning a tournament. To take a team that is brave, adventurous and ideally entertaining to the last couple of weeks of a competition, taking on the world/continent in the process, is to capture the imagination and hearts of a country in a way that no other sport can.

Succeeding at international level is still a challenge that should not be underestimated. Again, the comparison of the intense and long-term slug of a club season versus the slow build towards a fortnight to month-long examination of your abilities, is ultimately pointless.

Both represent different reasons as to why football is such an engrossing sport. Despite the conflict that lies at the heart of each protagonist, both complement each other well.

For Redknapp though, the chance to test himself on the world stage should not be ignored.

Redknapp's Own Attributes Can Bring the Best out of England

After a difficult beginning to spring, Tottenham have picked up some form again as they seek to ensure a great first two-thirds of the season do not go to waste. Should Spurs fulfill their promise and qualify for the Champions League (and maybe even win the FA Cup), it will really underline the generally good job Redknapp has done since becoming manager in October 2008.

During that time he has brought together a squad that has helped break up a "Big Four" that was thought impenetrable, along the way maximising the potential of several talented if somewhat underachieving players.

Redknapp isn't perfect. Questionable team selections and mistimed tactical deviations have on occasion raised the ire of Spurs supporters. As good a job he did in managing his team to fourth place in 2009-'10, he was equally culpable for the way they fizzled out in the home stretch of last season.

On the whole though, the 65-year-old has proved himself a very good manager who, if anything, has improved in some respects this season.

If Spurs get a top-four finish again this season, there is every reason to believe Redknapp can take advantage of the boost of Champions League football and take his team forward.

But if England do come calling, this manager's attributes make him someone genuinely capable of making them a country that at the very least will stand its own against international football's best, Spain and Germany.

Redknapp is a more nuanced and intelligent football man than people give him credit for, but he does have a simplicity of approach that makes him appealing to players.

Just as with any manager, he is not exempt from their grievances when left out of a team. When they are playing (especially regularly) he has the ability to get the best out of them.

His aim is to get them doing what they do best. While tactical concessions need to be made occasionally, Redknapp generally likes to deploy footballers in their natural positions and get them believing in their own ability.

This understanding of what makes a football team tick would work well with England just as, in accompaniment, would his toughness in bowing to a player's ego.

At times with Spurs there has been a sense of favouritism at play, but only to the extent that the players he sticks with are those he genuinely believes should be out there.

When it comes to England, the team he picks might not look too different to how it does now. Star players won't be picked at the expense of what is best for the team.

The England squad should respond well to Redknapp's style. Eriksson was too weak, McClaren too eager to please and Capello proved too aloof.

Redknapp understands enough of the culture and personalities of English players to let them get on with it where needed, but he is tough enough too that he will not suffer any nonsense.

Redknapp's Approach with Spurs Will Fit Well with England

Getting the players to really believe in the cause will be a crucial part of Redknapp's job as England manager, but managing an international team goes beyond just motivation.

You don't just have a squad of 25, you have a vast pool of players to select without the benefit of watching them daily in training. While the core of the team may remain, over an 18-month qualification period a squad develops and changes from game to game.

You have to manage in the moment while also having an eye on the future as plans evolve with preparing for a tournament in mind.

Then there is that tournament itself, preparing your squad for the intricacies of a group stage before (hopefully) changing tact for the all or nothing knock-out rounds.

Add to all this the pressure of a schizophrenic media and passionate fans and you have an experience that is unlike anything at club level.

Daunting as that all may sound, Redknapp is in many ways perfect for it.

As described on the previous page, his management skills and approach to football are great attributes. But they only go so far over the course of a regular season as a club manager.

Fatigue, form and fitness, both for the team and others, all come into play to the extent that a manager can only do so much. At the end of the day it's what the players do on the pitch that really counts.

A manager is there for a reason of course. Redknapp has generally done very well (especially at Tottenham) over the course of a long season. You would assume then, he will be more than capable of applying his strengths to England and international football too.

Redknapp would be able to motivate England like he does Spurs, and might prove even more effective in doing so in those short periods together rather than over the months of a season when it is inevitable both parties will lose a little spark.

England's best players right now are not much different to Spurs (and indeed some are in both camps). Both have a consistent goalkeeper and are generally pretty solid in defence.

Each have a wide-range of midfielders fulfilling different roles, with plenty of pace and skill on the wings to use. Up front there is talent, if nothing world class (Wayne Rooney might be the exception).

Spurs this past season have played the best football of Redknapp's tenure. Taking their format of quick-passing moves that utilise their speedy players, they have added improved movement that has made them a far more effective attacking proposition.

On the defensive side of things, Spurs have generally been solid (bar the awful month that begun with a 5-2 loss to Arsenal). Their best have pressed opposition sides into making mistakes that gets them the ball back.

England are not in the top group of nations right now (Spain, Germany, Holland) but amongst those in the next set (Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France, etc.) they are not horrible by comparison.

They may come up short to an Argentina at their best, but football is not as simple as that. Getting the best out of a team is the task at hand for any manager here. Then you just stand back and see what happens.

Redknapp has qualities that suggest he may be the man to do that.

The last manager to do so for England was Terry Venables at Euro '96, a manager that bares many similarities to Redknapp.

England back then were at a point where they did not compare with nations like Holland and Italy for possessing players competing at the very top of European football.

But Venables was able to bring them together and inject some belief. There was enough talent there for them to go to the semifinals where they lost out on penalties to eventual winners Germany.

Redknapp offers England that opportunity once more. Neither he nor his country can afford to miss it.