Harry Redknapp Interested In Coaching 2012 UK Team

Portsmouth boss ‘Arry Redknapp confirmed his interest in leading a Great Britain soccer team in the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will be held in London.

Redknapp is from London and spent a combined 15 years playing for and managing West Ham, a club based in the eastern section of England’s capital. The other teams he’s led — Bournemouth, Portsmouth, and Southampton — are all on the South Coast, also not far from London. This familiarity with the area clearly plays into his willingness to take the job if he gets the chance:

“I’m absolutely flattered that my name is being mentioned about managing the Great Britain team,’ he told the Sunday Mirror yesterday.

‘Would I take it if they offered it to me? Absolutely, I would be a fool not to.

‘I’ve had some great managerial jobs during my career but there is no doubt this would be the icing on the cake.

‘The fact it is being held on my old stamping ground in East London makes it even more appealing.”

As of right now, though, it appears unlikely that a combined team will even be fielded. The Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish FA’s are all opposed to the idea, which puts a huge damper on it seeing as those are three of the four countries that would be involved. There’s no doubt that most of the talent on the team would come from England, but it can’t be given the go-ahead unless those associations give their seals of approval. They feel that it would be a threat to the future of their respective national teams, which obviously operate independently of one another.

England’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, supports the plan:

“I hope there will be a team by 2012. It will be Team UK. I hope we can get an agreement on that.

‘I think when people are looking at the Olympics in 2012 - Britain, home of football, where football was invented, which we gave to the world - I think people would be very surprised if there is an Olympic tournament in football and we are not part of it.”

‘I am determined to work with the football associations and the Olympic Committee to ensure that when we come to 2012 we have a men’s football team and we have a women’s football team playing.”

There’s no doubt to me that the UK should have a team. These Olympics are in their backyard. Soccer is the most popular sport in the region, and its main competitors — rugby and cricket — aren’t Olympic events. If some sort of agreement has to be reached saying that Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales each have to be represented on the squad by a certain number of players, then fine. I don’t see why that should be too much of a problem, although as I hinted at before, the best players in Great Britain are English.

Redknapp would be a terrific leader for this team. Other than Martin O’Neill, I don’t think anyone is more of a “player’s manager” than Redknapp. He has the right personality and temperament to unite a multi-national side. He’s going to be 65 in 2012 so he may not have the same enthusiasm as he does now, but something tells me the thrill of playing in his home city would reignite the engines and give him a little pick-me-up, if he even needs one in the first place.

Premiership Preview--7. Portsmouth

Just like Manchester City and Everton, Portsmouth is coming off their best season in England's top division in years, and I'm not sure there'd be much argument from the South Coast side's supporters by saying it was the best season in club history. Portsmouth wound up in 8th place, their highest-ever finish in the Premiership (though not in the old First Division). They won the FA Cup for the second time in their 110-year existence, thereby earning a berth in this season's UEFA Cup, the first time Portsmouth will play in a European competition.

It was an amazing year for a team that seemed destined for relegation midway through the 2005-2006 campaign. At that point, Pompey's fortunes changed forever. Wealthy Franco-Russian businessman Alexandre Gaydamak became co-owner of the club in January, which was in the bottom three at the time, and invested money immediately, allowing manager Harry Redknapp, who'd only come back to Portsmouth in December following a short stint at arch-rival Southampton, to bring in much-needed reinforcements. Portsmouth hit a good run of form at the end of the season and managed to escape the drop. Gaydamak then became sole owner in July. The rest, as they say, is history.

The combination of Gaydamak and Redknapp has worked wonders for a small-market side with the smallest stadium in the Premiership in Fratton Park, which seats just over 20,000 people. Gaydamak has financed acquisitions -- Lassana Diarra, John Utaka, Sulley Muntari, David James, Niko Kranjčar, etc. -- that have made Portsmouth a considerably better side, and the $22 million signing of striker Peter Crouch this summer was a club record. Redknapp, for his part, is Portsmouth's most successful manager in terms of win percentage since Bob Jackson in the late '40's-early '50's, and in terms of total wins since George Smith, who was at the helm basically throughout the entirety of the '60's.

Most of Redknapp's big transfer moves have come prior to this summer's window, with the exception of Crouch, of course. He's lost only one player so far, Muntari, though the attack-minded Ghanian midfielder was Portsmouth's best field player last season, his only one in the Premiership. He will sorely be missed, but Inter Milan came-a-calling and offered significantly more money (around $10 million more) than what Portsmouth paid to sign him from Udinese in the first place. Redknapp and Gaydamak couldn't turn that quick profit down, which effectively offset Crouch's signing by half. Crouch and Defoe should form a lethal partnership up front; the pacey Defoe provides explosiveness and will run off balls won down from the air by Crouch, who has great body control and creativity for a man his size. Ben Sahar came on loan from Chelsea, and the Israeli international has made it clear that he intends to challenge for playing time on the front line.

With Muntari's departure, Portsmouth's strongest area shifts from the midfield to the defense, including David James, the league's best keeper last year. Pompey conceded just 40 goals, though James single-handedly kept anywhere from 5 to 10 more out by coming up with an incredible save of some kind. Sol Campbell is the club's captain and heart and soul of the back four. He's joined in the middle by the vice-captain, Sylvain Distin, who started 36 league games last season, an impressive total for a center back. Both men stand at 6'4" and are as physical as they come, so most aerial 50-50's played by the opposing team into the penalty area go for naught. Glen Johnson thrust himself into contention for the England national team with his play at right back, finally living up to the potential Chelsea saw originally when they signed him from West Ham a few years ago. As with Manchester City, Portsmouth's weak link in defense is at left back. Hermann Hreiðarsson occupies the position for Pompey. He's getting on in years (34), doesn't offer much going forward, and can be exploited by speedy right wingers, but he doesn't make too many mistakes.

Projected Starting Lineup (4-4-2):
GK: James

RB: Johnson
CB: Campbell (captain)
CB: Distin
LB: Hreiðarsson

RMF: Utaka
DMF: Diarra
CMF: Papa Bouba Diop
LMF: Kranjčar

ST: Crouch
ST: Defoe

Portsmouth opens the season with as difficult an August as any team in the Premiership, with games at Chelsea and Everton sandwiched around Manchester United's visit to Fratton Park. It's the second straight year that Pompey has played those two "Big Four" giants in August; they took one point out of a possible six in the last go-around.

September and October are no easy feats either. Portsmouth will see Manchester City (away), Tottenham (home), Aston Villa (away), and Liverpool (away) -- all European participants -- along with Stoke City and Fulham in must-win home games.

After that tough run to start the year, Pompey will likely have to make up ground and have a perfect opportunity to do just that in November and December. Those two months bring 10 league games, and Redknapp's side can conceivably win 9 of those and take points from all 10. The opponents they should beat: Wigan, Hull City, Blackburn, Newcastle, West Ham (all at home), and Sunderland, West Ham, West Brom, and Bolton on the road. Each of those matches are winnable, so we'll see how Portsmouth does.

The South Coasters have to play Liverpool, Man United, and Chelsea in a four-game stretch in February and early March, an arduous task to say the least.

Portsmouth closes out the season with another straightforward slate of fixtures. Seven of their last eight -- @Hull, West Brom, Bolton, @Newcastle, @Blackburn, Sunderland, and @Wigan -- should be handled without too much difficulty, and a showdown against Arsenal at Fratton Park comes the first weekend of May.

Bottom Line: In terms of net loss and gain, the Muntari-for-Crouch tradeoff won't help or hurt Portsmouth too much. The two bring different skillsets to the table and while Muntari is probably the better player overall, Crouch adds a lot more to the front line, both directly and indirectly, with what he can do. Last season was the first that the majority of the starters had a chance to really get used to one another, and that working relationship should continue to grow in '08-'09. This is a talented bunch, but if Redknapp feels he needs an additional piece or two in January, Gaydamak will provide the money. It'll be interesting to see how much, if at all, the extra UEFA Cup games will affect Portsmouth's play in the Premiership. Expect no worse than another 8th-place finish, but I could see Pompey crawl up the table a bit higher than 7th as well.

Tomorrow I'll preview the teams just outside the top four, both of which have an eye on breaking the traditional stranglehold imposed by England's giants.

Portsmouth Purchases Peter Crouch

Portsmouth has completed a $22 million move to bring Peter Crouch back to Fratton Park after seven years, during which Crouch played for four other clubs and earned his way squarely into the England setup.

Crouch, the tallest player ever to put on a Three Lions shirt at 6′7″, spent the last three seasons at Liverpool, where he scored 22 goals in 85 league matches but led the club in ‘06-’07 with 18 goals in all competitions, including a hat trick in Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Arsenal.

He was obviously out of favor at Anfield with the emergence of Fernando Torres, and manager Rafael Benitez found a formation that worked towards the end of the year — playing Torres as a lone striker with Steven Gerrard right behind him. Crouch was relegated to long stretches on the bench, usually coming in very late in games when Liverpool needed a spark. His playing style and body build wasn’t suited for Benitez’s preferred gameplan, and there was no way Crouch was ever going to be more than a role player as long as he stayed on Merseyside.

He’s come back to the South Coast now, where he’ll immediately link up with fellow England international Jermain Defoe. The two have the potential to feed off each other brilliantly — Crouch is very good at holding up balls and playing with his back to goal, allowing others to come into the attack, and the speedy Defoe should be able to run off Crouch and benefit from the big man’s dirty work.

There is no doubt that Crouch has superb technical ability, especially for a man his size, and he provides options that many teams aren’t built to defend against. His stats at Liverpool don’t truly reflect how good of a striker Crouch is; he was never put in a position to succeed and was playing in a system that limits individual creativity for the most part and focuses on the team and playing as a unit.

Under ‘Arry Redknapp, for whom Crouch will be playing for the third time in his career, he’ll have an opportunity to thrive. Niko Kranjčar and John Utaka are very good crossers of the ball from the wings and will give Crouch service he just wasn’t getting at Liverpool. He should be able to build more chemistry with the English contingent at Portsmouth (David James, Glen Johnson, Defoe, Sol Campbell, etc.) than he ever could with a semi-United Nations delegation at Liverpool, and that will come in handy.

For $22 million, Portsmouth signed a player who can score anywhere from 15-20 goals a season and almost as importantly, brings the skillset to allow guys like Defoe and Sulley Muntari and Utaka to come into the play and collect what Crouch starts out of the air. This was a very good signing for ’Arry’s club, and the regular first team games Crouch will get and the chance to continue to play in Europe (albeit the UEFA Cup, not the Champions League) will benefit the player as well. Look for Defoe and Crouch to form a productive partnership, certainly at club level, but I have a feeling they could be leading England’s front line as well in World Cup qualifiers this fall and beyond.

Harry Redknapp Rejects Newcastle

Come on. Did anyone actually think Harry Redknapp was going to leave Portsmouth for Newcastle? Let's see, a relatively quiet life on the South Coast near the water or life in the North East, where you're more likely to find coal than a good time?

Never mind those things though, just look at the actual talent on the field. Portsmouth is an up-and-coming team with legitimate European aspirations this season and for seasons to come. 'Arry has put a dangerous team together down there and with Alexandre Gaydamak's considerable wealth, Redknapp doesn't exactly have to worry about not having any money to buy more players if he needs to.

Newcastle is a team in turmoil right now. Their squad is full of players in their late 20's and doesn't have much young talent aside from Steven Taylor, James Milner, and Obafemi Martins. They haven't won anything of note in over 50 years and the immense pressure placed upon both the team and its manager by the fans to change that is hard to operate under.

I don't blame Redknapp one bit for not going up to Newcastle; it would be a step down for him and he has Portsmouth on the right track.

Portsmouth Ink Ghana Midfielder Sulley Muntari

The 22-year old Ghanian international has signed a five-year deal to play on the South Coast. Muntari leaves Udinese, a Serie A squad, to join a talented midfield at Portsmouth (O'Neil, Taylor at times, Mendes, Davis, and Kranjcar). He's collected 26 caps for Ghana despite his young age and is earning his playing time with 8 goals already, including one against the Czech Republic in the World Cup last year. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but Harry Redknapp looks to have a fairly significant amount of money in the transfer kitty as he attempts to manage his team into European competition next season, with 3 player acquisitions already.

For complete details, see the club's official press release: http://www.pompeyfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10396~1030887,00.html?ptvParm=