Harry Redknapp has moved to end his lingering stand-off with Fabio Capello by predicting the Italian will lead England to triumph at next year's World Cup. Almost two weeks after the Tottenham manager described Capello's decision to call-up Ledley King to the national squad as "mad", the same man has since given the national manager unequivocal support.
"He [Capello] is a top coach and manager," Redknapp said. "His record tells you he's fantastic and he's now got fantastic players so put the two together and England have a real chance of doing something next year. This man can take us all the way to a [World Cup] championship.
"That's my honest belief; if I didn't believe it I wouldn't be saying it. If I thought he was crap, I would say so."
The rift between Redknapp and Capello opened after the then Portsmouth manager, in his role as a pundit for Setanta Sports, criticised England's performance in August's 2–2 draw with the Czech Republic. It then significantly worsened after Redknapp spoke out against the naming of King in the squad for last week's encounters with Slovakia and Ukraine because of the defender's long-standing knee condition. "It's mad, pointless at best," the 62-year-old was quoted as saying.
Capello reacted last week by accusing Redknapp of double-standards after he failed to criticise the Scotland manager, George Burley, for calling up Alan Hutton, who has not made a first-team appearance for Spurs since injuring a foot in November. Redknapp responded yesterday to the selection of Hutton, who featured in both of Scotland's World Cup qualifiers, but refused to drag out the row.
"Alan Hutton's going with Scotland was good because he needed games. He's now got 90 minutes at international level under his belt so that's fantastic for him and us," Redknapp said. "With Ledley, he could have played on the Saturday [against Slovakia] and that wouldn't have been a problem for me. But when the England staff saw his knee they sent him back.
"I never stopped him going. I never said a word. All this talk about me and Capello, I don't know where that came from. I was asked on the Monday about Ledley being called up and said he couldn't play two games in a week. That's all I said but then it was turned into, 'You fool Capello, why have you picked him?' What's that all about? I have great respect for the man."
Asked if he is prepared to meet Capello in order to end the dispute, Redknapp's response was equally colourful. "It's not a problem to me but if I say that now I know the headline in tomorrow's papers will be 'Redknapp wants a crisis meeting with Capello and wants to share a cappuccino with him.' I have no problems with him. I love football people."
The Spurs manager's most pressing concern, though, is securing a fifth win in seven matches for his side at Ewood Park today, a result that could see the London club move up to seventh.
There are injury concerns regarding Darren Bent who, like King, had to withdraw from the England squad, and Luka Modric, who did not feature in Croatia's 2-0 win against Andorra on Wednesday.
