Ian Holloway: Choose Harry, then give the next English batch a chance

Redknapp is experienced enough to handle it - and what a job I think he'd do

Old pals’ act: All smiles with Harry before Blackpool took on Spurs last season - we got four points out of six from them (Getty Images)

We all know Harry Redknapp has to be the next England manager but where are the other candidates? The answer is there aren't any, and that worries me. I'm talking Englishmen here. I don't want someone from overseas, or the rest of Great Britain – we can't play a Scot up front so I don't want anyone other than an English person leading our country.

But apart from Harry, who is there? Not many, and the blame for that lies with the owners of the biggest clubs in this country.

Every time someone like Chelsea look for a new boss they turn to Europe. Abramovich thinks "hang on a minute, that bloke's winning trophies over there – we'll have him".

But what they don't know is the budget he is operating on, or how competitive the league is.

Homegrown managers are overlooked too often. Taking teams from the lower leagues to the top division doesn't seem to count for anything. The biggest clubs want someone who has won a title – and the only place to find someone new who's done that is abroad.

Thankfully at this moment in time that doesn't matter because we are fortunate to have such a strong English manager in Harry. Never can there have been a more clear candidate and if the FA don't appoint him, it would be a faux pas on a par with the failure to give Brian Clough the job back in 1977.

But when Harry does get it he should watch out. The tabloids in this country love a story and they will be looking at him like never before.

It happened to Stuart Pearce one day after he became caretaker boss. The Sun had a front page on him and it was just a ridiculous non-story. What relevance has it got to now?

We seem to take great delight in this country in making life difficult for our most successful people, especially in football.

I'll never forget how disgusted I was when Glenn Hoddle, who was doing a terrific job as England manager, was hounded out because of something he said. It was a disgrace.

Hopefully, Harry is big and experienced enough to handle it – and what a job I think he'd do.

One of the reasons for our lack of international success in recent times is because we haven't got the right infrastructure. We aren't producing the players we should be and when we do, they aren't playing a system that allows them to excel.

We have to start entertaining because the best teams do that. The Spanish and Germans are brilliant to watch, but I can't remember the last time I sat down before an England game and thought "brilliant, can't wait for this".

Harry would change it all. He went to Tottenham, got rid of the director of football, made all the decisions and got them playing a brand of football he liked.

I can see the England set-up flourishing with him in charge. It would be attacking, exciting and exhilarating. I would be entertained and that is all I want, along with the millions of us who support the national team.

I've had my own taxing times

Harry's court case was ridiculous and should never have gone near a court. But it will lead to a lot of managers being a bit more careful about what is happening to their money.

I've got experience of this because last year I had the most horrible shock of my life when I got a bill from the inland revenue for a big sum of money.

It related back to my departure from Leicester in 2008. I had a three-year contract but I lost my job at the end of the first season.

I was given a pay-off but my agent and accountant at the time didn't tell me we needed to pay tax on it. If it had been spotted then, it would have been Leicester who paid.

But it was missed, I put my signature on things, and three years later got a horrendous bill shoved in front of my face which I had to pay.

It shows mistakes can be made and as a football boss you don't half rely on the people around you – agents, advisers, accountants – to take care of your financial affairs. We have to trust them because we're not exactly businessmen. We wear tracksuits, work out tactics, shout and bawl a bit, and that's about it.

Capello right to be cheesed off

I disagree vehemently with anyone who says Fabio Capello quit out of convenience. I've heard it suggested that he walked because he was worried another failure at the Euros might tarnish his reputation forever. That is wide of the mark. He is a very disciplined manager who would have carried on doing his job and honouring his contract had John Terry not been stripped of the captaincy.

He wasn't consulted about the Terry decision and felt so strongly about being undermined that he quit. If that is how he felt, then fair enough – after all, I'd be pretty cheesed off if my chairman at Blackpool suddenly gave my skipper the chop.

It is just sad it got to the stage where Capello felt he had to go. There was no doubt a verbal agreement between him and the FA that they wouldn't meddle in team issues, but there is rarely anything in a manager's contract actually prohibiting it.

Instead you rely on good dialogue between you and your boss, and there obviously wasn't in this case.

Maybe the FA can learn from that and have a much better relationship with the next incumbent.

We've had a soft centre in the Cup – but we'll give Toffees a run for their money

I can't wait for our FA Cup game at Everton on Saturday. Our season at Blackpool is going brilliantly, in fact I'm almost having to pinch myself.

If you'd told me we would get relegated last year and have to put a new squad together, yet be in the play-off positions and the fifth round of the Cup in February, I'd have called for the men in white coats. We're doing well and although the priority is promotion, the FA Cup means a lot to us.

We've had a pretty terrible record in it since Matthews and Mortensen won it in 1953. This is only the second time we've reached the fifth round since the 1950s...which is damn awful.

It would be lovely if we could go further and it is exciting that we are only two wins from a Wembley semi final.

But I have a huge amount of respect for David Moyes and Everton are a terrific and experienced Premier League team so it will be tough to say the least.

Mind you, if our Premier League match at Goodison Park last season is anything to go by – 5-3 to the Toffees – the neutrals are in for a cracking afternoon.

Giggs is the greatest

Thank goodness I can watch Ryan Giggs on Match of the Day again next year. I think my Saturday nights would be empty without him.

That was the best news of the week – Giggs signing a contract extension at Manchester United toplay for a 22nd season.

The fella is the best player the Premier League has ever seen. I have thought long and hard about that. We've had some greats – Beckham, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp – but no one has done it so long and so brilliantly as Giggs.

Doing it at the top club too, keeping your place year after year and having a positive effect on the team, takes some doing. And he is still doing it.

When they were 3-2 down at Chelsea last weekend, who did the ball fall to? That left-foot cross from Giggs was so good it virtually hit Javier Hernandez on the forehead.

The bloke is a genius and the Premier League will be all the better for still having him in it.

Joker tag makes me mad

Someone told me I was trending on Twitter, with people suggesting that I should be next England boss.

Firstly I had to ask someone what that meant – the internet isn't my bag. When I was told, my response was "you must be having a laugh". I am miles short of the level needed to be an international manager and haven't done anything yet in the game. I am still learning my trade.

Maybe people were just backing me because they think I'd liven it up. I'm madcap apparently. I disagree with that and I dislike it. Judge me on the job I'm doing, and I think that I'm a half-decent manager. You don't achieve that by being a joker.

At the same time I do things the way I think they should be done and I like to entertain. How boring would it be if we were all the same?

If that rules me out of ever getting a certain job then so be it. I won't change my ways.