England is the top job - Redknapp

Soccer:He wriggled a little bit. He squirmed. He even tried ignoring the subject but in the end, Harry Redknapp agreed managing England is the ultimate job.

After Thursday's explanations, the Club England board went into lock-down on Friday as they began the process of finding Fabio Capello's successor.

The Football Association refused to offer any detail on a Wembley meeting between the four men - FA chairman David Bernstein, chief executive Alex Horne, director of football development Trevor Brooking and Club England managing director Adrian Bevington - who must decide the next England boss.

In fairness, they have already laid down the criteria and how they will look for far more integration within the England youth teams than Capello ever seemed willing to consider.

But it still comes back to one man, the man endorsed by Alex Ferguson just 45 minutes before he swept into the small meeting room at Spurs Lodge, Tottenham's training base in Chigwell at 10.20am to face so many members of the media some had to be turned away.

When asked if managing England was the ultimate, Redknapp said: "It has to be. But you also have to understand what a tough job it is.

"No-one has a magic wand and the list of top-class managers who have all gone in full of hope, people like Kevin Keegan, who did a fantastic job at Newcastle, and they all found it very, very difficult.

"It's certainly not an easy job. Whoever takes that job has a real job on their hands."

If Redknapp happened to be listening to a radio for any section of the three-hour journey from his Dorset home to Spurs' Essex base, the whoever would swiftly turn into him.

In the eyes of the press and the public, there is only one choice. The "right choice" as Ferguson put it.

"There's no doubt Harry's the best man," said Ferguson. "He has good experience, the personality and knowledge of the game. He's changed the fortunes of every club he's been at. It's the right choice."

If even Ferguson is speaking as if the decision were a fait-accompli, it does not offer Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy much hope of tempting Redknapp to stay.

Levy could plausibly point to the brilliant job Redknapp has done at White Hart Lane and how it would be a shame not to finish what has been started with such staggering success.

However, amid the genuine appreciation for the manner Tottenham have stood by him during the dark times brought by the tax evasion trial that, for him, came to a satisfactory conclusion on Wednesday, just hours before Capello resigned, came an equally straightforward assessment of football's transient nature.

"Players are fine," said Redknapp in response to the difficulty of leaving behind a squad of players so carefully assembled. "You know what football's like. Somebody comes. Somebody goes. I wouldn't kid myself. I get on great with the lads here. But they've all go their contracts.

"Something happens, a new manager arrives the next day and the players get on with their football."

Looking worn out by his personal tribulations and a heavy cold that consigned him to bed on Wednesday afternoon, Redknapp was not his usually jaunty self.

It can only be a matter of when, rather than if, he has some pretty big things to consider, which would be done in conjunction with wife Sandra and son Jamie.

"No, it wouldn't be easy (leaving here)," he said. "It would be very difficult. I'm happy at work. But if the opportunity comes, and I get asked, I'll have to consider it. I'll have to make a decision, but I have to do what's right for me and my family."

However, the one thing Redknapp has already worked out, which Ferguson would confirm from personal experience, is that carrying out the role on a part-time basis is tricky. The Manchester United boss did it in 1986, following Jock Stein's death, and found it tough balancing his commitments to Aberdeen and preparing a World Cup campaign.

Redknapp said: "It's hard enough managing Tottenham. For anybody to try and do two jobs, I'd say that would be very difficult. Your focus has to be on one job. I can't take my eye off the ball at Tottenham at the moment. We are looking to get Champions League football and we are still in the FA Cup. I owe it to (the players) to keep completely focused on the job I'm doing here.

"It wouldn't be fair to them if I started letting my thoughts wander elsewhere."

In the shorter-term, Redknapp is glad he will be able to take his place in the Spurs dugout on Saturday without the prospect of being jailed hanging over his head.

Redknapp, along with co-defendant Milan Mandaric, was cleared of two charges of tax evasion on Wednesday morning after a 13-day trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The former Portsmouth manager on Friday described the trial, which came eight years after he was originally investigated by HMRC tax authorities, as "the most draining thing I've ever been through in my life".

The Spurs boss, whose team face Newcastle on Saturday, looked haggard and admitted the trial had taken its toll on him.

The 64-year-old insists he will be back to his usual chirpy self on Saturday, however, when he returns to the home dugout at White Hart Lane having cleared any thoughts about the trial from his mind.

"It's great to be back," said Redknapp. "It (the trial) knocked me for six. I haven't felt so good for the last couple of days. I went down with the flu. I was a bit low but I feel good. It was always a case of things were going well on the pitch, but I always had that other thing hanging over me - that was a problem for me. Thankfully it's gone now so we will move on."

Redknapp missed Monday night's draw at Liverpool as the private jet which Spurs had chartered to take him to Anfield suffered technical difficulties.

Without him, the Londoners battled to a gutsy goalless draw which Redknapp saw as a point gained, rather than two lost, due to the injuries that caused him to pick a threadbare team for the game on Merseyside.

Rafael van der Vaart missed the game with a calf problem and will be absent again on Saturday, but Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe are fit after overcoming hamstring complaints.

Redknapp, whose team trail league leaders Manchester City by seven points, is expecting a tough game against Newcastle, who have defied all the odds to climb to fifth under Alan Pardew.

"They are playing well so it will be really hard," Redknapp said. "It has the makings of a great game. Alan Pardew has done a fantastic job there. He wasn't really wanted when he took over from Chris Hughton, who was popular, but he has won the fans round and you have to give him and (owner) Mike Ashley credit for that."