When Fabio Capello resigned as England manager in February, it seemed that the overwhelming opinion and support from football experts and fans alike was towards Harry Rednapp taking over at the helm.

Simply – there was nobody else that sprung to mind and that was in such a position to be able to take the job. However, for one reason or another the timing of Capello's resignation was awkward. First of all, coming in mid-season as it did and Harry's Spurs challenging to regain a Champions League spot meant that Rednapp probably did not want to leave a job only half done. By sticking with Tottenham – at least until the end of the season means that if he were to become the new nation's manager that he would have little time to prepare for Euro 2012 concentrating on purely England.

In other qualifying countries right now, their managers are 100% focused on what lies ahead this summer and on nothing else. They are talking to all of the top coaches, getting weekly fitness reports, talking to and watching players on a weekly basis that will all figure into their plans this summer. If Rednapp does this, then he literally will only be able to look at a list of players that he already knows and pretty much pick a squad in the same way that the majority of us would.

What is he going to do any differently than anybody else at this stage? What tactics is he going to try and implement in such a short time space for no real preparation? Surely if this is the way that the FA decide to go then Rednapp will be nothing short of just a face this summer being used to just keep the squad ticking over and hoping that they respond to anything that he may add because of who he is – but to make wholesale changes in any shape or form is not going to happen either on or off of the pitch. I would think that most of us would be able to pick at least lets say 16 of the squad right now that will be getting on the plane for Poland.

So if Rednapp does not get the job or only takes the job after this summer then who is going to lead the nation at Euro 2012? Stuart Pearce was put in as caretaker manager for the Dutch friendly game but Pearce has probably got enough on his plate this summer as it is by leading out the British football team for the Olympic Games. There is no disputing Pearce's international record as a player but as a manager at club level, all he has done was a short period in charge at Manchester City. Running the Under 21 team is a far cry from being the full international manager. At a push he could do it but Pearce does not strike me as having the same confidence in the dug out as we saw he had as a player and does not come across fantastically well whenever he is interviewed for the media. He is not as far down the pecking order as Steve McLaren came on the famous night of the umbrella but I can see if England struggle under Pearce it could leave him tarnished for a long time and does he really want that or need that right now?

The other viable English alternatives when Capello was installed as manager were Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson. Since then though both have been through some tough times. Big Sam no longer even has a team currently in the Premier League after his unjust sacking by Blackburn and although West Ham have a decent chance of promotion back to the top flight this season, a series of draws and the emergence of Reading have threatened the Hammers automatic promotion possibilities and also drawn criticism of the style of play from the Hammers fans.

Roy Hodgson had just led unfashionable Fulham to a European final and on the back of that was offered the big chair at Anfield. Only half a season later and suffering one of the shortest terms as manager of Liverpool he was sacked and has since picked up the reins at West Brom and has started to turn their fortunes around reasonably well so much so that they are no longer a team in the middle of yet another relegation dog fight. It begs the question though can Hodgson perform as well in the bigger jobs because his track record suggests his effectiveness only becomes efficient when he is in charge of lets say "middle of the road" clubs. Being in the England limelight would be by far the biggest challenge of his career and unfortunately for him his own history suggests that he may well struggle despite being a popular manager at most places that he has been at.

That leads me on to the final English candidate that has sprung out of the woodwork so to speak and that man is Glenn Hoddle. A glittering playing career with Spurs saw his twilight years end with roles as player-manager with both Swindon and Chelsea where he continued to be successful and highly popular that when the England job came around the first time he was a natural choice. His England team qualified well for the 1998 World Cup and played reasonably well in the finals before going out of course on penalties (what is new?) to Argentina in a game that many still say to do this day they could of won and then who knows what would have happened?

Hoddle's demise as England manager happened due to events for a change off of the field when some of his religious beliefs were given back page headlines simply because he was the England boss. Once again, it is so typical of this nation's press to go digging that you cannot help but believe who is in charge that the media will eventually dig out some dirt on them. No wonder that the position has been labelled the “poisoned chalice” as these days surely influential managers must look at it and think that it will be the peak of their career but at the same time it will also signal the end of their careers once things start to go wrong and the press jump on the band wagon.

For Hoddle, after leaving the England job he had spells in charge at Spurs, Wolves and Southampton – none of which were particularly successful and since then has only worked mainly in a punditry role in this country whilst attempting to form the Glenn Hoddle Academy for young players . As a pundit Hoddle still shows us that he is still very knowledgable and displays all of the credentials of a man of experience, tactical awareness, confidence and influence that could be a positive attribute in any dressing room. He has also just expressed an interest in the position should there be an opportunity to take it back – perhaps he feels that he has unfinished business there after how it prematurely ended the first time around.

Maybe the FA look at their current predicament as one which is we are damned if we do and damned if we don't and do not have that many top class English options open to them. Yes, they could go abroad again but with so little notice could a foreign manager come in with just a few weeks to go and learn all that they need to know about the English team? If it was a foreign manager already working here such as Arsene Wenger or one that has been here before such as Jose Mourinho then they probably could but anybody else is on a hiding to nothing.

I am not saying that Glenn Hoddle is the best choice for the job right now but he is certainly somebody worth considering seriously. With no club attachment, of course Hoddle is in a position where if appointed he could get to work on it tomorrow without disrupting anybody's season and surely this has to be an important factor for the FA to take into consideration and cannot leave the current situation dangling for much longer – Euro 2012 is just over two months away as it is!

A couple of months ago I headed over to the predictor table on the BBC web site and even then had Manchester United winning the title by a whisker from City. 

Back then City could still win it if they won the head to head match but now with changes in fortunes since then I can only now see United winning it at a canter with the games they have left in comparison to City. Its not so much what City can pick up - its a question of where are United going to drop enough points to give City half a chance again.

If you follow our weekly predictions you will already know that my selections are not brilliant - I would say average but just look at the games that the two teams have left and see if you can find a way that is now going to see a dramatic swing for City whilst being realistic at the same time.   

My latest table also sees some other dramatic changes elsewhere since I last did it and at the bottom end of the table my apologies go to Wolves fans because I think your season has fallen apart and I cannot seeing it get fixed. The big battle is going to be between the next three going into the last weekend. Wigan finish off with a trip to Blackburn followed by a home game to Wolves.  With Blackburn at Chelsea and QPR at Man City Wigan fans would take this premise tomorrow if it was offered to them I would have thought. But then again Wigan could be down by the end of March if you were to believe all the TV pundits.  
The final Champions League spots also set up a close end to season drama with three teams chasing two spots. Spurs have an extra game in hand in this scenario with the trip to Bolton still to be confirmed date-wise.  

Predictor tables are what they are and I am sure a thousand people could come up with a thousand different permutations. If I did it again myself I could come up with another completely different end result. All I can say is that I have filled in all the scores with just one possible scenario and I know we all as individuals will have different opinions as to the future outcome.

I, like thousands upon thousands of others in this country and worldwide have just seen Fabrice Muamba collapse in the FA Cup quarter-final between Spurs and Bolton. The one and only important message that I am giving on behalf of us all at Talking Soccer is that we are all praying that he pulls through this terrible incident.

The other message I have is to all the retards that are posting videos and photos on web sites such as You Tube showing or claiming to show what happened need to have a good, long look at themselves. We all like and want to get traffic coming to our web sites but under these circumstances words cannot describe my feelings towards these parasites at this moment.

Here is a little experiment to try - take 8 playing cards out of a pack - lets say the ace of hearts up to the eight of hearts (they don't really have to be the same suit but as long as they are numbered 1-8). Give the eight cards a good shuffle and then select one after the other at random laying them out in four rows of two. What are the chances that the odd numbered cards will all end up in the left column?

I raise this point having just seen the Champions League draw. A while back I questioned the FA Cup draw for a similar thing and in the quarter-finals the four favourite teams were all kept apart and all managed to get home draws.

Now we have the Champions League and surprise, surprise the top four bookies favourites not only have been kept apart but all four of them have their second legs at home! Co-incidence? Try it with your playing cards - imagine that Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea are the odd numbered cards and see how many times it takes you to draw them out as all the away teams.

For this to happen once I would accept as we all know it can happen. But for it to keep happening again and again does make me question once more how honest these draws are. Think about how easy it would be for even a second-rate magician to manipulate the scenario and make us believe that the draw is real and completely random. Even the people drawing the balls may not even know that they are being duped and only a select few are in on it just to ensure that they get the majority of the "right" teams through. 

My belief is that this year the powers that be surely want the Champions League final to be between Bayern Munich and either Real Madrid or Barcelona. They would take AC Milan or Chelsea as adequate replacements. But to ensure that neither get through it is now Barcelona's responsibility to take care of those two in the next two rounds. That leaves no place in the final for Real Madrid so Bayern must get past them in the semi-final themselves. If I was hand-picking the draw, that is exactly the draw that I would pick if I was rigging it on behalf of UEFA and there you go - exactly that scenario has come out of it!

It is Thursday evening – I have just watched both Manchester clubs bow out of the Europa League. This just sums up what a dismal year it has been for English teams in European competitions with only Chelsea left in now (and they needed to turn around a bad defeat in Naples to do so) and who in their right minds expects Chelsea to win that cup this season?

First of all the Champions League – this has been one disaster after another. First of all we have Sir Alex in denial and not accepting that United were “struggling”. Unable to beat Basel at home and losing away summed it up – the same Basel side that lost this week 7-0 to Bayern Munich in the next round.


Everybody said that Manchester City's group was tough and perhaps on paper it was – but having said that with the players and money at their disposal they should have surely still been good enough to do better than they did. The Carlos Tevez incident in Munich put a huge spanner in the wheel and I find quite ironic that there is talk of his return to action a week after they have now been eliminated from Europe completely.

Arsenal – having finished fourth had to pre-qualify and in those early rounds looked as efficient as ever. But The Gunners have an uncanny knack of cruising against mediocre European clubs and then freezing when it comes to a big test. The 4-0 defeat in the San Siro to AC Milan was a poorer performance from Arsene Wenger's team as you will ever see and many Arsenal fans will have forgiven them because of the 2nd leg – but 3-0 was not enough. Really they should have gone through as Milan looked like a team that just had not turned up – but typical of Arsenal to go out as gallant losers and once again finish a season without a trophy at all.

Now the Europa League and starting off with the teams that were in it in the early rounds. Tottenham made it quite clear from the off set that their priorities laid elsewhere and the sad thing is I believe that if Harry Rednapp had taken this cup seriously and on the back of what they achieved last year in the Champions League, they could have easily still have been in it today looking forward to a quarter-final draw as one of the favourites to win the whole thing. Even having given it up to concentrate on the league – look where it has got them! Some will argue that being third right now would not have been achieved if they had stayed in the Europa Cup but it is their results right now that are of a concern, long after they had gone out. Now with Arsenal coming strong they may have a fight on their hands again for a Champions League spot even and if they missed out again on that and even won the FA Cup how would the fans feel about that? Europa Cup next season again for Spurs and probably no Rednapp in charge either.

Birmingham City did as well as if not slightly better than I would have expected them to do and it is sad but a fact of life really when you consider that the majority of players that earned them a European place with the League Cup win then deserted the sinking ship. In this case, I do not really blame Chris Hughton for the decisions that he made as a return to the Premier League has to be the only priority for them right now and although they have had a great run of recent, it looks likely that they will achieve a play-off place at best and then anything can happen.

Fulham seem to go through this process more than others and end up playing far more matches in a longer season than many other clubs. Two years ago reaching the final of the Europa Cup was an unbelievable achievement with probably the comeback to defeat Juventus the most memorable part of the journey. The Cottagers have played really attractive football at times this season and deserve to be mid-table and in the comfort zone – it was highly unlikely that they would go on a similar cup run in Europe again and that is what happened so it was no surprise.

I have to say that Stoke were in the end the biggest disappointment. For the Stoke fans to see their club playing in Europe must have been fantastic for them and they enjoyed many of these as the team looked set to go on a run that could have seem them emulate Fulham and Middlesbrough's successes in the same cup in recent years. Having seemingly been prepared to really give it a go, they suddenly come up against Valencia and decide to quit after losing the first leg 0-1 at home. The away leg where many players were left out and some did not even travel would have hurt me as a Stoke fan because all of a sudden the home game against Swansea the following weekend was seen to be more important. Did anybody really think that Stoke could have got dragged into the relegation dog battle if they had continued on with the Europa Cup and neglecting their league games? There are a minimum of five teams that would of and still will finish behind them this season regardless as to their European commitment. They may now finish twelfth instead of fourteenth and never get the same European opportunities again.

Now we come on to the two Manchester clubs and I have left them until last because their stories are the freshest in my mind seeing as they have both gone out of Europe in the last few hours as I write this. United in one year have gone from being in the Champions League final to being knocked out of the Europa League by currently the seventh best team in Spain! What's that all about? Granted – over the two legs Athletic Bilbao played really well and based on the two games deserve to go through as they clearly were the better team. But what does that say of United? It wasn't as if they were putting a second eleven for these matches. Rooney, Giggs, Young, Ferdinand, Evra etc were all playing in the starting line-up tonight and the rest of the line-up was pretty close to the strongest team that they could have put out – but they lost again.

The first half in City's home game against Sporting Lisbon was pretty bad for two reasons. One of them was of course the home teams performance – one of their worst of the season and coming on the back of bad displays as well in Lisbon and Swansea. The other reason (and this is only through watching it on TV) was the distinct lack of atmosphere in the ground. Compare that to the Bilbao fans in both legs of their match with United – the team deserved to go through just for the support that their fans gave them. The City fans only woke up when the team eventually did decide that they wanted to play. But to only be able to give us roughly 30 minutes of what we know this team is capable of over two matches is not acceptable – and yet they so nearly pulled it off when Joe Hart's header right at the death went just the wrong side of the post.

Cheating

Something else I must say about the City game and is just one thing that just constantly bugs me throughout the game is time-wasting. There was about six minutes of the ninety to go and City were 3-2 up needing another goal. The commentator had just made the comment that there should be at least five minutes injury time. Thirty seconds later the Lisbon keeper goes down apparently with cramp and the game is held up for the best part of another two minutes. I think to myself – ok, the fourth official is now going to hold the board telling us we have seven minutes of injury time – but no! It is still five minutes. When the clock ticked onto 90 minutes another Lisbon player was down with injury and I actually took note of how long it was before play continued. On top of that there were at least two other reasonably sized stoppages in injury time alone and I timed that between them it meant that only just over two minutes was actually played (and don't forget the keeper incident either that I started with). One commentator even said about one stoppage that he thought it was fine as the referee is not stupid and he can just add it on at the end – but he didn't and that is what really ticks me off. It is surely one of the easiest things that referees can do if players want to try and waste time (and they all do it given half the chance regardless of club) and just add on even more time at the end. If I were the referee I would be even tempted to add on more time than even the actual stoppage took, I might even tell the players that I would be doing this. It is only way to get this horrible cheating out of the professional game.

Yes, we all saw Drogba's dreadful fake injury the night before and then him taking a little peak to see if the referee had bought it. You know what? Players really must be that stupid. In Drogba's case how many cameras are in the ground that night? Surely anybody with an ounce of intelligence if they are going to fake injury is going to give a 100% in acting it out knowing that if they did not they would surely be noticed. Yet again here – Drogba got away with it! Let us also not forget Didier's actions not that long ago when he was part of a team that had felt cheated when they played at home to Barcelona and were denied three goals. Drogba lost it right in front of the cameras and ended up with a severe ban – he deserved it then as much as he deserves another one now just for being a complete idiot and showing the world that he was in fact faking. The icing on the cake was of course the Chelsea shirts with an extra message below the squad numbers telling us all about the "right to play"!  What is that all about? "The right to cheat" would be more appropriate.

If FIFA, UEFA and our own FA continue to let players cheat then they will continue to do it. There should be severer penalties for players caught doing these despicable acts and not thinking that they are smart because they conned the referee again and even though we can all see it on TV there is not a thing that anybody can do about it!