Harry RedknappSpurs manager Harry Redknapp has said he is “not sure” whether he wants to take the top England soccer job, admitting for the first time that making the transition from club manager to international manager would be “difficult”.
Although Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite to fill the vacant England manager's job following the resignation of Fabio Capello, this kind of comment must cause concern at FA headquarters.
However he has received support from a number of high-profile managers and players from within English football who have backed the 65-year-old to succeed Capello.
Recently the pressure seemed to be telling on him with the team’s performance dipping in recent games. Another indication is a controversial remark he made during an interview with Lord Sugar in the Radio Times. When asked about foreign investment in the Premier League, Redknapp replied: “Where they find some owners now, I don’t know. I remember the first guy they brought in at Portsmouth from Saudi Arabia somewhere. He looked like they pulled him off the stall outside. He looked like the only Arab who didn’t have oil in his garden.”
Although he has openly admitted that the English job is the “ultimate” position for any English manager Redknapp has also conceded that leaving his club would be very hard after three and a half years of success as Spurs manager.
He drives 125 miles to his London training ground every day, a gruelling schedule for a man his age. But Redknapp says he really enjoys life at Tottenham.
One interesting quote attributed to the would-be English manager concerns players. “When you have a club, you are looking for a striker and you take them. When you're coach, you must do with the players you have in your country,” he reportedly said.
Most soccer pundits know exactly what he means. You can’t buy success with your national team. You can sometimes with your club!
Copyright © 2012, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
A statement from the English Football Association has denied any approaches to potential candidates for international coach, suggesting that Harry Redknapp’s name is not the only one on their list.
Although he is the overwhelming favourite to succeed Fabio Capello who resigned as England manager last month over the John Terry captaincy debacle, Redknapp is adamant that he has not spoken to anyone about the vacancy.
So who will lead England into Euro 2012 and beyond?
Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce, in charge of last Wednesday’s friendly against the Netherlands, has expressed an interest in taking the reins.
FA chairman David Bernstein, general secretary Alex Horne, Club England managing director Adrian Bevington and director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking are the team tasked with finding a replacement.
However comments attributed to Bevington seem to confirm that only internal discussions have taken place so far. He was quoted on Sky Sports News as saying: “We haven’t spoken to any external bodies about this, and no approaches or conversations have been made to any club or individual.”
A possible reason for the apparent lack of urgency is that England’s next international fixture is still three months away.
This also may be the logic behind Redknapp reportedly saying that the FA should wait until the end of the Premier League season before deciding.
Brooking is also quoted as supporting this idea. “There’s no need to rush into it because we have got a bit of time now before the end of the season. So, as I say, let’s see how we go.”
But with the scheduled end of the Premier League scheduled for May 13th, would this give any new England manager time to gel a team together for their next match against France on June 11th? Seems short notice!
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
It seems British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to enter the ongoing row on racism which is plaguing English soccer by calling a Downing Street meeting to discuss the problem.
The issue has dominated the headlines there for weeks. Add in a fortnight of the highly publicised trial of Harry Redknapp (who walked free from court last week after being charged with tax evasion) and you can see why the press is giving English soccer a hard time! Cameron doesn’t need this, not with the Olympics just down the road. It’s also damaging the UK’s image abroad which in turn could potentially hurt its economy.
The reports suggest that Cameron and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt are to hold a “roundtable discussion” with football officials and players’ representatives later this month to put pressure on all concerned to get a grip of the problem.
Cameron’s intervention it appears follows some high-profile incidents with a momentum of their own.
Controversy was stirred again a week ago when Liverpool striker Luis Suarez refused to shake hands with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra before their clubs’ match at Old Trafford.
Suarez had only recently returned to play for Liverpool having served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Evra during a previous game last October.
And the mess that surrounds Chelsea’s John Terry who has been stripped of the England captaincy while he awaits a criminal trial on charges of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand just adds weight to Cameron’s concern that he has no choice but to intervene.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
Harry RedknappTottenham boss Harry Redknapp (see DPNLive Jan 23rd) was cleared on Wednesday February 8th of taking part in an offshore tax dodge relating to bonus payments proportionally received for player transfers. Both he and co-defendant Milan Mandaric walked free from court in London after jurors accepted Redknapp’s repeated denials over evading tax on payments totalling €227,000 which were found in a Monaco account.
It can now also be reported that Mandaric and former Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie were cleared of €722,000 tax dodge claims at a previous trial.
During the 13-day trial it was apparent that Redknapp (64) was under severe emotional pressure as the Crown accused him of telling lies in an attempt to circumvent the tax system. However jurors accepted both Redknapp’s and Mandaric’s evidence that the Monaco account in the name of Redknapp’s dog, Rosie, had nothing at all to do with football matters.
The trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court seriously threatened to wreck Redknapp’s chance to replace Fabio Capello as England manager this summer having led Tottenham through their most successful period in the Premier League era.
It now seems certain that with his name cleared in the courts nothing can stop him achieving the ultimate prize in English soccer: England manager.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE
Harry redknappTottenham manager Harry Redknapp, appeared in a London court recently at the start of a high profile trial where he is accused of alleged tax evasion during his time in charge of Portsmouth.
Redknapp was in the dock alongside former Portsmouth chairperson Milan Mandaric. Both have been jointly accused of concealing transfer bonuses earned from profits the club made from selling players such as Peter Crouch.
Prosecutors accuse Redknapp of banking transfer bonuses worth £189,000 (€225,000) in a Monaco account named after his pet dog, Rosie, as well as failing to inform investigators of the Monaco account. At the same time tax officials are probing a previous £300,000 (€350,000) payment he received over Rio Ferdinand’s record-breaking transfer between West Ham United and Leeds, it was claimed.
The basis of the Crown’s case is that the money transfers to the offshore Monaco account were deliberately and dishonestly paid by Mr Mandaric and deliberately and dishonestly received by Mr Redknapp to avoid the payment of tax.
Ironically Redknapp’s side currently lie third in the English Premiership and he is the bookies’ favourite to succeed the English national coach Fabio Capello after this year’s European Championship.
He is also the most successful English manager in the modern game, having led Portsmouth to FA Cup success and Spurs to last season’s UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
David Beckam
Well, I guess if you’re a global brand then you need to be seen, particularly in the States. News just in from H&M has confirmed that soccer superstar David Beckham will appear in a Super Bowl TV commercial for the company’s new “David Beckham Bodywear” collection.
Swedish clothing retailer H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB (operating as H&M) is known for its fast-fashion offerings for women, men, teenagers and children.
With over 2,300 stores in 43 countries, in 2011 it employed around 87,000 people. It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex (parent company of ZARA), and leads over third largest global clothing retailer, United States based GAP Inc.
The TV commercial will mark the debut of both the English soccer star Beckham and the Swedish retail giant during one of the world’s biggest advertising showcase platforms – that’s Super Bowl Sunday. H&M said the Beckham spot would air during the second quarter of NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI from Indianapolis.
The Beckham’s Super Bowl ad splash aims to support the launch of his nine-piece H&M Bodywear collection in 1,800 stores nationwide on February 2nd, 2012 across the US.
Denver Broncos Quarter back Tim Tebow, recently posed shirtless for sponsor Jockey. Guess what? Jockey will not be airing any Tebow TV spots during the Super Bowl, a source for the company said.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
News just released from the UK home office confirms that football hooliganism in England and Wales is significantly down. And the statistics released seem to bear this out with a 9 per cent drop in arrests at matches during last season.
The UK home office is responsible for security and one of its functions is to tracks arrests and hooliganism figures. The actual figures released by them on December 23rd, 2011, show there were 3,089 people arrested at football/soccer matches in England and Wales during the 2010/11 season, which is a reduction of 302 compared with the 2009/10 season.
For over 20 years now the UK police, government, and all the football clubs themselves, have been devising programmes to reduce football hooliganism and violence in the English game, deemed the 'English Disease'.
Although this problem is not confined just to the UK but to at least a dozen or more other countries where football is a major sport, it is due to the severity of hooliganism in the UK that have made them leaders in combating it. On the UK’s Home Office website Crime Prevention Minister Lord Henley acknowledged more work still needed to be done.
"Football policing is a real British success story," he said. "Where hooliganism was once described as 'the English disease', we now set an example for others to follow. But we are not complacent and we will expect to see England fans continue their good behaviour at next year's European Championships, where the eyes of the world will be on them once again."
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
Luis SuarezThe English FA has sent the strongest message out yet that racism will not be tolerated by handing out an eight-game ban to Liverpool striker Luis Suarez over comments made to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
The case has caused widespread controversy since both teams met at Anfield on October 15th. It finally ended in spectacular fashion with the dramatic decision handed down by a three-man disciplinary panel of the FA.
Many in the game felt that the complicated nature of the incident – one player’s word against another’s – would allow Suarez escape any punishment.
As it turned out, he was given a sanction far in excess of what many realistically expected and as expected Liverpool went into immediate counterattack mode.
A Liverpool spokesman is quoted as saying-
“We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no one else on the field – including Evra’s own teammates and all the match officials – heard the alleged conversation between two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth. “It is our strong belief, having gone over the facts of the case, that Luis Suarez did not commit any racist act. It is also our opinion that the accusation by this particular player was not credible.”
The concept of the punishment is entirely commendable as racism has blemished English soccer for far too long. In the bad old days of the 1980s players were constantly subjected to systematic abuse on a weekly basis from both opposition fans and players. Bananas were thrown at them and all forms of profane chants were part and parcel of the game.
One of the probable reasons for the severity of Suarez’s punishment is that in recent times there has been an upsurge in racism in the UK. It appears that the powers that be felt it was time to put down a marker in order to make it quite clear that, unlike FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s recent stupid remark that any racist acts on the field should be settled with “a handshake”, the English FA will not tolerate a return to those days of the 1980’s.
And what about Liverpool club itself? Their argument centres on whether there was enough evidence to dish out such a sentence at Suarez in this way. The club is highly likely to launch a powerful appeal that could see the issue continue to be at the forefront of soccer for many months to come.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved
In line with Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has also weighed in and criticised the Football Association over its successful appeal to get Wayne Rooney's Euro 2012 ban reduced.
Redknapp has said that the FA is guilty of double standards in its handling of the Rooney ban after his suspension was cut from three matches to two. The three match ban was imposed after he was sent off for kicking out at Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovic during England's final qualifier in October.
The Manchester United forward had his punishment reduced at a hearing at UEFA's Nyon headquarters in Switzerland on December 8th.
Redknapp commented the following day that the FA, which is responsible for disciplinary matters in England, had left itself open to charges of hypocrisy.
"You can look at it and say it wasn't that violent, but it doesn't matter,” he said. “If you cuff someone, you get a three-match ban. Those are the rules.”
Redknapp's comments followed those of Dalglish, who also said that the FA had failed to give the right lead by appealing against Rooney's ban.
"The FA is supposed to be setting an example for things, yet they appeal against Wayne Rooney's three-match ban," Dalglish said.
So it appears that there is one rule for domestic soccer in the UK and one for International – country before club wins the day this time.
Copyright © 2011, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved