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Taylor backs Redknapp as next England boss

Harry Redknapp has made no secret of his desire to succeed Fabio Capello © Getty Images

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Former England boss Graham Taylor has tipped Harry Redknapp to succeed Fabio Capello after reasserting his belief the national team should be run by an Englishman.

Capello has already confirmed he will retire in 2012 and there is a growing sentiment from both inside and outside the FA that the next England coach should be a local, as is increasingly the case in the top nations in international football.

Taylor agrees with that notion and he sees Tottenham manager Redknapp as the best candidate of the English crop when it comes time to pick Capello's successor.

"I have always believed that the job should go to an Englishman,'' said Taylor, who led England for three years in the 1990s. "That's not being disrespectful to Fabio or to Sven-Goran Eriksson. I just believe that the top countries in international football, players, staff, supporters pit their wits against other nations and the man in charge has to be from that country.''

Redknapp was touted as a possible successor to Capello this summer after he beat off competition from the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool to bring Champions League football to White Hart Lane for the first time in almost half a century.

The former Portsmouth boss, who has seen the likes of Gareth Bale, Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson flourish under his command, would be interested in the job while Liverpool's Roy Hodgson and current Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce would stand a chance of getting the post if the FA decide to go English. Taylor, who was 46 when he took the England job, believes 63-year-old Redknapp has enough experience to make him the right man for the post.

"I'm sure if you asked everyone who should get it then they would go for Harry Redknapp right now,'' Taylor said. "For me he is at the right age. If someone asked me to look back on my career I'd say I was too young to take that job. I think Harry would take it. He is an Englishman capable of doing the job.''

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