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Court case could end Redknapp's England ambitions

Harry Redknapp is a candidate to succeed Fabio Capello © Getty Images

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Harry Redknapp's candidacy as a potential successor to England coach Fabio Capello will be damaged, possibly irrevocably, if he fails to clear his name in a tax evasion case.

ESPNsoccernet has been informed that Redknapp could be "black balled" as an England candidate if he is found guilty of tax evasion.

Redknapp is charged with tax evasion alongside former Portsmouth chairman and chief executive Milan Mandaric and Peter Storrie with a trial scheduled for April.

The trio were charged in January following a three-year City of London Police and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs investigation into the financial affairs at Portsmouth, where Redknapp was manager until October 2008. All three men deny the charges and will seek to have them dismissed on Thursday.

Redknapp has secured Spurs a place in the last 16 of the Champions League, and is now a candidate to replace Fabio Capello as England manager in the summer of 2012.

Alex Horne, the FA's general secretary, expects Redknapp to be on the list of contenders. Horne said: "Harry Redknapp is a great manager. Tottenham are playing great football and to qualify for the Champions League [knockout stage] from a position of being fourth favourites in the group is huge testimony to that. I would expect Harry to make a long-list [for the England job]. It may not be a very long long-list."

But Horne conceeded that no process had been discussed for when Capello steps aside after Euro 2012. "It gives me 18, 19 months to prepare for that process," said Horne. "It is not a policy decision that they [the contenders] would be English. It is an absolute preference for certain individuals. It is not yet a board decision. We thought about this long and hard when we got Fabio Capello. We got the right man for the job and that is what we will do again.

"It is not a policy decision that they will definitely be English. I will be finalising the selection process criteria during the first few months of next year for internal discussion."

Redknapp has made no secret of his desire to manage England and is the bookmakers' favourite for the job, but FA sources have confided to ESPNsoccernet that, as yet, no short list of candidates have been drawn up - despite speculation recently that Redknapp has been "sounded out" by the FA for the post. That has been strenuously denied.

A source said: "Fabio Capello's contract expires in 18 months, and a lot can happen in 18 months. As we stand, there is no shortlist of candidates, because it simply hasn't been discussed formerly at all as there is nothing to discuss until it is relevant, and as I said, anything can happen in 18 months."

It was only a few months ago that Roy Hodgson was named manager of the year and was a shoe-in to become the next England coach - according to both the media and the bookies.

Then, he had a dreadful start at Liverpool while Redknapp began to pull rabbits out of the hat with Spurs' memorable win over European champions Inter Milan in the Champions League. Now, Redknapp is the flavour of the month.

"When it comes to choosing an England manger, it cannot be done simply on what the manger has done over the last month or two," said the FA source. "People talked about Roy Hodgson, but at no time did anyone sit down and draw up a short list of candidates, even after the World cup, so again, that cannot be the case."

As for the tricky question of morals and whether it would be fitting for an England manager to be appointed if he was found guilty of tax evasion, he said: "That might prove very difficult scenario, but then again the charges might be quashed - then he is a free man."

Redknapp was charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue of an estimated £40,000 after voluntarily attending London's Bishopsgate police station in January, which followed an exhaustive 26-month police and tax inquiry into alleged corruption in English football.

The charges concern two payments, totalling $295,000, alleged to have been made from Mandaric to Redknapp via a bank account in Monaco, evading the tax and National Insurance contributions due between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007.

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