Harry Redknapp says he would relish the opportunity to be involved in the England setup.
The manager's role is a vacancy that is now open after Roy Hodgson resigned immediately after the unexpected Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland.
Redknapp was at the launch of Eir Sports this afternoon and when asked if he fancies the job, the ex-Tottenham, Portsmouth and West Ham boss had this to say.
"Yeah of course. If you got offered it, you couldn't say no because it's a challenge. But it's a tough job but I'd like to be involved with it somewhere. I'd love to because I think whoever takes it, you need help and no disrespect to Roy, maybe you need people around you that you can definitely bounce [ideas off]. You need help," he said, also adding that "if you're English, you want to manage your country".
Roy Hodgson
But as he pointed out, England have had good managers but never got the performances out of the players at nearly every major tournament and also felt the pressure around Hodgson was immense.
"You're relying on your players but at the end of the day, we've been to three tournaments now and Roy's had three tournaments in charge," he said.
"[At Euro 2016] we couldn't beat the worst Russian team ever seen, Slovakia who get beat 3-0 by Germany as they get into the knockout stages and we managed to creep by Wales. But it's not worked out. Roy's a good manager and a good man but for whatever reason he's got the same problem - Capello was a good manager. His record tells you he was a great manager. We've had loads of great managers but none of them have ever seemed to be a success since Alf Ramsey."
But aside from "not knowing the system" used at Euro 2016 due to chopping and changing from a players' point of view, he also feels that the pressure needs to be reduced around those same players.
"We've got to find a way of relaxing them and getting them to play their normal game that they play every week when they play for their clubs. Take the pressure off 'em," he said, while also adding that the UEFA qualifying groups for World Cups and European Championships are a "waste of time" for the big nations like England.
"Who wants to see England playing whoever was in our group... the Isle of Wight or someone," he said.
Harry Redknapp was speaking at the launch of eir Sport, formerly Setanta Sports and the eir Sport Pack. The eir Sport pack includes eir Sport 1 and eir Sport 2; BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport Europe and BT Sport ESPN. The eir Sport Pack is now free to all existing and new eir broadband customers. eir Sport has also secured the rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup. eir Sport was formerly Setanta Sports. ”
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