Harry Redknapp ready to come out of retirement to rescue Leeds United
Harry Redknapp is prepared to come out of retirement to take over at Leeds United if the club want him, The Mirror reports.
The Premier League veteran has managed 641 games in the division [Premier League] but has been out of the game since leaving Birmingham in 2017, and hasn’t been in charge of a team in the top flight since he was at QPR eight years ago.
However, after 74-year-old Neil Warnock took over at Huddersfield this week (13 February), the 75-year-old Redknapp is prepared to take on the Whites job on a similar short-term arrangement.
The 2008 FA Cup winner with Portsmouth will manage Leeds United until the end of the season if the club ask him to come out of retirement, with the current caretaker boss Michael Skubala inexperienced at the top level.
The club have missed out on a number of their preferred options to succeed Jesse Marsch, with West Brom’s Carlos Corberan, Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola, and Feyenoord’s Arne Slot all proving out of reach.
Sensational
It would certainly get plenty of attention for the former West Ham, Tottenham, and Southampton boss to make a return to management after so long away.
But whether it would be a recipe for success is another matter, with inevitable questions about whether the game has moved on in the mean time.
Redknapp was never seen as a major tactician in his time but was capable of motivating a set of players to play up to their potential, is considered a major part of Gareth Bale’s development at Tottenham, and was expected to be offered the England job before it was given to Roy Hodgson.
But it would be a gamble to put Leeds United’s Premier League survival in his hands and expect him to get them firing in a short time.
Warnock’s return at Huddersfield is one thing, but he is returning to a league that he last managed in a year and a half ago, rather than eight in Redknapp’s case.
If the club are prepared to go for his style of experienced British manager, who not so long ago took the majority of the lower-to-mid table top flight jobs on a regular basis, then there are other options available who haven’t been out of the game for so long who would presumably be less of a punt.
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