England role 'an older man's job' says Harry Redknapp

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Harry Redknapp has claimed being England manager is "an older man's job".

Tottenham boss Redknapp, who is the favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as national team boss, certainly fits that criteria, having recently turned 65.

Redknapp, who has made no secret of his desire to manage his country, told ITV Meridian: "I suppose there's not a million candidates, you know, Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce and whoever.

"And there's some young managers like Nigel Adkins and people like that, who in the future I'm sure would be fantastic but, at the moment, probably too young.

"It is an older man's job, I think. It's not a job for a young guy."

He added: "I said all along I think it needs an English manager. I think we need to give somebody a go.

"We've not achieved anything with foreign managers.

"Capello did okay for sure - bad World Cup (in 2010) - but we haven't really torn up any trees, so why not give it to somebody from here."

Redknapp reiterated he had yet to be approached by the Football Association and remained determined not to let the speculation distract him.

He said: "It's a great job, obviously, to be manager of your country.

"It's difficult. At the moment, I've got a job to do at Tottenham and suddenly we've lost a couple of games.

"I've got to really keep concentrating on my job at Tottenham, which I do 100%, and see what happens at the end of the year.

"Tottenham is my only focus, really.

"I want to make sure we get Champions League football this year."

PA