Always Managing: My Autobiography by Harry Redknapp Read Free Book Online Page B

George Graham told me that he met Capello on holiday in a supermarket in Marbella. George was a huge fan of that disciplined, Italian style of play, so he thought he would go over and introduce himself. He said he was George Graham and that he used to manage Arsenal, and Fabio gave him a complete custard pie. Couldn’t have been less interested. George regretted even trying to be friendly.
    So I didn’t get to know Fabio, and I think that goes for most of the English managers. I don’t think he engaged much with our football and, in the end, the FA were probably looking for a way out and were not too disappointed when he quit. I can understand his decision, though, once they had taken the captaincy away from John Terry without consulting him. I would have found that difficult, too, as a manager, because the captain has to be your pick. You’ve got to work with the players and earn their respect, so should at least be in on the process, even if in exceptional circumstances the FA believed it was not the manager’s final call. To treat Capello as they did was highly disrespectful, but the result was probably convenient for all. I suspect they would have got rid of Capello in 2010 if they could – although his qualification record was top class – and his decision suited them. Maybe he was looking for an excuse to go, too. He would have known he would get another top job, as he did in Russia, and he’s already a very wealthy man. I just think we ended up underachieving massively under him, as much as with any manager.
    It is sad, but England can sometimes be quite painful to watch, and I know from some of the players that it is not an enjoyable experience for them, either. I’ve heard a great many wonder about carrying on in international football because they get slaughtered if the result isn’t right or they don’t play well. They leave clubs they love – where everybody is together – go and play for England, and find that this faction doesn’t like that lot, and after one off-night everybody gets ripped to pieces. When I was at Tottenham, I had plenty of players who said, ‘I don’t want to play, pull me out of the squad, I don’t want to go.’ I’m sure it is different with the older players. I can’t imagine Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, JohnTerry or Ashley Cole not wanting to turn out for their country, but I’ve known a lot of younger ones that weren’t interested. Times have changed. My generation would have given their right arm just to be named in the squad, but the younger ones aren’t steeped in that tradition. They can’t be bothered. They weren’t brought up on England as the pinnacle of a career, as we were.
    I think we need to bring this next generation together and get people like Frank Lampard and David Beckham in to talk to them. They haven’t always had the easiest times with England, they haven’t always been successful, and they’ve certainly been criticised, but they have always been there for the team, 100 per cent. Maybe it has become too easy to get out: ‘I won’t play this game, I won’t turn up; it’s the end of the season, I’d rather go on holiday.’ I think they need to be sat down, fifty or sixty of the current elite group across all ages, and told that to play for your country is an honour, and probably the greatest honour. That to want to play is expected, and the way it should be.
    Having such strong views on England, I have been asked whether I thought I should have at least got an interview for the job. It’s a moot point. Yes, it would have been nice to be considered, but I wouldn’t have gone, and I know, in my shoes, Roy wouldn’t have, either. We’ve both been around long enough; they know what we can do. They either want you or they don’t. What point is there in auditioning? An interview would smack of an organisation that doesn’t know what its plans are – let’s see if we can find an England manager out of this lot – and I wouldn’t have