Harry Redknapp slams FA for ‘nonsense’ surrounding Gareth Southgate’s appointment as England boss
HARRY REDKNAPP has slammed the FA for the “nonsense” surrounding Gareth Southgate appointment.
Despite being the only serious candidate to become England boss, Southgate had to undergo a three-hour interview on Monday.
Yet the man who is such a certainty that most bookmakers have stopped taking bets has to wait until he is confirmed in the role.
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Now Redknapp – the people’s choice who was overlooked in favour of Roy Hodgson in 2012 – has blasted the FA for continuing to drag their heels.
He hit out: “What a load of nonsense. Everyone knows he’s going to get the job – we all know he’s going to get it.
“What have they got him in there for? Just give the boy the job and let him get on with it. They’re dragging it out for whatever reason I don’t know.
“He’s had four games, those four games have gone okay, and there is no-one else around, let’s be honest. You’d like to take a bit of even money on him getting it!“
It isn’t the first time Redknapp has put the boot in on the FA in recent months.
After the shambles of Euro 2016, and Hodgson’s subsequent departure in June, the former Spurs gaffer said he “had no faith in them picking the right man.”
And he was firing both barrels at the FA’s choice of consultants, as the Southgate saga rumbled on.
Howard Wilkinson, now 73 and who hasn’t managed for 13 years, and one-time second choice England left back Graeme Le Saux both had their say.
Yet Redknapp swiped: “I saw Graeme was on the panel, but I don’t know where he came from to be involved. It’s amazing really.”
Southgate has already found himself with one controversy to handle even before he officially gets the job, after the win over Scotland.
Wayne Rooney was pictured worse for wear at a wedding at the team hotel, while Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana visited a strip club.
Redknapp has every sympathy for the soon-to-be England chief and told TalkSport: “I think Gareth would have learned a big lesson there.
“He will be telling them ‘in future we can’t have this, we can’t take that chance again.’”
Redknapp is speaking from bitter experience as well. Five years ago he banned his then Spurs players from holding a Christmas party – only to discover they had gone to Dublin for a night out.
He said: “I had the worst nightmare ever. I said ‘there’s no party this year, you’re not going out.’
“Two hours after I said it I found out they’d gone out the night before, they’d all gone to Dublin, and there was a picture of one or two of them lying on the floor.
“The problem is once you say ‘go and have a quite night lads, one drinks leads to two, two leads to four and off they go.
“You either have them not going out at all, or you have to be prepared for it if they do.”
