So, Harry Redknapp was cleared of all charges relating to cheating the public revenue, but do no think for one minute he is innocent. The jury may have been fooled by Redknapp's tale of being an illiterate technophobe, but the facts speak for themselves.
Why would he pay the Portsmouth transfer 'commision' into an offshore account named after his pet dog? Why not just pay it into a normal account, pay the tax and be done with it? As he said, he had paid enough tax over the years anyway.
He claimed his accountant dealt with that side of things, but ultimately that makes no difference. The fact is the money was paid into an offshore account, and the only possible reason for that was to avoid the tax.
Of course all this is largely irrelevant now. He has been cleared by a jury and is free to get on with his life. However, the whole case leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Redknapp claimed he was lying to the News Of The World journalist in an interview on the matter, so how can we now trust anything he says to the media again? This becomes an even bigger issue with the current England manager situation.
If Redknapp is given the job it will involve talking to the media on matters relating to the national team, but can we trust him to be honest with us? There will always be a feeling of distrust.
From a purely football point of view, Harry is without doubt the best candidate to lead the country into the European Championships and beyond, but is he actually the right man for the job?
Redknapp's own public admission that he took what can only be described as a 'bung', should rule him out straight away. It was, of course, the very thing that lead to George Graham getting a two year ban by the FA.
After the scandals of Eriksson, the disaster of McClaren and the circus that was Capello, it is vital the FA make the right appointment now. The game has been gripped by one crisis after another this season and the FA cannot afford to get this wrong.
The problem is the public, and the media, are crying out for an English manager this time, and Redknapp is the popular choice. Yeah, because all the previous Englishmen did such a great job didn't they??
But would he take it anyway? As things stand Harry can hold his head up. He was cleared of all the charges against him, he is doing a great job at Tottenham and has the whole country saying he should be the next England manager.
If he does take it on, the likelihood is he will hated by everyone within two years when it all goes wrong, as it inevitably will. Would the cheeky-chappy want that? I doubt it.
So where does that leave us? Personally I don't think it really matters who the next England manager is. The problems in our game are far deeper than that. The players are not good enough to win a tournament whoever is in charge anyway.
The only thing I would say is I hope it is an Englishman, someone with a passion for the country and the Three Lions. Other than that it doesn't matter. We will still be in the same position in 4 years time regardless. But the FA do not need another scandal, and Redknapp is a scandal waiting to happen.
The next few weeks could be very interesting indeed.
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