This will sound especially bizarre after Portsmouth's humbling at the hands of Liverpool today, but Harry Redknapp was the right man for the England job. That's not to say that Fabio Capello won't do well, but Harry had everything that was needed. He's great at getting the best out of what he has, he's worked with several of the players before, and he likes his teams to attack.

Sven Goran Eriksson was by far the most successful manager that England have had in recent years. Critics complained that he had failed to win England a major tournament, but then who had? They're a side that haven't done fuckall since 1966, and the unfortunate Sky and Premiership hyperbole seems to have players and fans alike believe that the England squad is far better than it actually is.

What ultimately really got the fans on Sven's back, was that England didn't play exciting football. They played result-oriented football, to the best of their abilities, and when faced with the world's best, like Brazil, Portugal and France, they couldn't survive. They always managed to compete though, and were never massacred, but the players weren't upto the level of technique where Sven could trust them at.

This year, after City's rousing start to the season, the press asked Sven why England never played like that, and his simple and honest answer was that he never had a player like Elano as England manager. That's the basic truth to all this - the present England players are lacking heavily in technique and skill, and so they have to be organised in a way that compensates for this, and that requires a tremendous amount of humility, which the players simply don't have.

Capello is an angry man with a big personality, and he will make sure the players do what he says, and he won't mince his words. But if people thought that Sven's brand of football was uninspiring, they will be in for even worse with Capello. His only focus is winning, and he doesn't care about style or substance or anything as long as he gets 3 points.

He's also a stereotypical Italian tactician, and his lack of English is going to hamper his communication to his players. Additionally, he's never managed an international team, so it will be interesting to see how he does with England, since he only has the players together for a few days every month. My guess is that he'll strip the play down to the bare essentials, and the fans won't like it. Neither will the media, and that battle is one of the biggest for an England manager. If the media starts to get on your back, the wheels might just start falling off the wagon.

Now Capello is a strong enough character to deal with all of this, but he's going to have to conduct quite a reality check once he starts. In his first spell at AC Milan, he had Van Basten, Rijkaard, Maldini, Gullit and co. Then at Real, he had Raul, Morientes, Suker and Mijatovic. Back at Roma, he had Totti, Batistuta, Cassano, Tomassi and Emerson. At Juventus, he had Buffon Ibrahimovic, Vieira, Del Piero, Emerson, Camoranesi and Nedved. And then back at Real, he had Raul, Ronaldo, Beckham, Cassano, Robinho, Van Nistelrooy, Gago, Guti, and Casillas. That is an awesome array of talent to always have been supported by.

Who does he have with England? Well... Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and Joe Cole. Gerrard as well is probably just a little bit overrated, but that's essentially the issue. Rio Ferdinand can play a bit when he's not busy with orgies and booze, and Peter Crouch can be a jack-in-the-box, but essentially the England squad is full of very, very limited players, and has no goalkeeper (surely, only the most deluded of fans still believe that Paul Robinson is "world class?).

At his previous clubs he's always been able to request the players that he wanted, but international management doesn't have transfer feers unfortunately. Granted, that's more than OK if you're the manager of Brazil, or Italy or France, but not quite with England. The core group of England players might be as talented as some top sides, but in terms of depth, there's not much. So the key is getting the best out of the players that you have, and that is where Harry Redknapp is excellent.

OK, he is a bit of a wheeler-dealer on the transfer market, but those who've followed him for many years know that it's not what he relies on. Constant injury problems, lack of funds, and switching of clubs mid-season have shown that he organises the team according to the players he has, and can innovate very well. He's never won anything major, but he's shown he can beat the best, and play attacking football.

Also, across the various clubs he's been at, he's had Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson, David James, Peter Crouch, Theo Walcott, Rio Ferdinand, Anton Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Sol Campbell playing for him. That's the core of the England squad right now, and he knows them in-and-out. Plus, he's been a Premiership manager for years, and knows the rest of the players quite well. This is as opposed to Capello, who admittedly says he doesn't know too much about the Premiership, and intends to do homework with watching loads of videos.

Having said all of this, Capello and Redknapp are in two completely different classes of manager. One could take the Italian comparison, and compare Capello to Lippi (two highly succesful, legendary club managers), and Redknapp to Donadoni (canny managers, who have managed small clubs, and not won anything, but know how to organise teams).

I'm in favour of Redknapp in this case, because he would have cost a fraction of what Capello did, and would not have put the pressure on England in such a big way. Now, they've gone for one of the biggest names available, on one of the biggest salaries available, and if they still fail, they one of football's proudest nations will end up as a laughing stock. It's a miracle they aren't already, because anyone who hired Steve McLaren should be.

Well... not madness per se, but again a great example of how British players just seem to cost so much more than they need to.

Dave Nugent has signed for Portsmouth for a fee of  just over £6 million. He joins from Preston North End, where he has played well enough to earn an England cap (and score a goal too).

The former Bury youngster is only 22, and has a bright future ahead of him, but the fee is still on the higher side, considering that he has no Premiership experience and that his record of 33 goals in 96 games for PNE is hardly prolific.

I think Nugent has chosen well with Portsmouth though. He could have signed for Sunderland, but at Pompey he doesn't have to have the pressure of relegation and expectation, and he's also got an experienced manager who knows how to get the best from his players. He'll have better players around him as well, and be in a settled team that is financially able.

John Utaka also signs for Portsmouth from Rennes. The fee is undisclosed, but is probably around the £3-4 million mark. This is a transfer that has been going on for ages, and Utaka let the media know a while ago that he was looking forward to joining his compatriot Kanu at Portsmouth.

Utaka is a good, but inconsistent player; very talented, but seemingly very raw at times. He's 24, and Redknapp will need to work on him a bit. Still, he's tall, strong, fast, and an exciting dribbler. He's skillful, although a hit-and-miss finisher, and is also not too bad in the air. This is going to be an exciting signing for Pompey fans, and it's nice that they have options in attack now.

Hopefully you cringed at that photo, I know I did. Well gimpy, chavvy, wannabe enfant terrible Craig "Bellers" Bellamy has signed for West Ham for a reported fee of £8 million. EIGHT! Somehow... Liverpool managed to sell Bellamy on for a profit. A player who signed for £6 million, scored just 7 league goals in 27 games, got arrested for hitting a girl in a nightclub, and hit a teammate with a golf club, has somehow been sold on for a profit. Lovely!

Bellamy is a serious talent - quick, tricky, left-footed and with a powerful shot, but he has the personality of a menstruating Satan. He first arrived in the Premiership at Coventry, as a replacement for the Inter-bound Robbie Keane. Since then, he's gone to Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, and now West Ham all in the space of 6 years (giving Anelka a run for his money). Anyways, good luck to West Ham, Eggert Magnusson and "Bellers".

Jason Koumas, has signed for Wigan for £5.3 million. This probably tops the list of ridiculously priced transfers, and furthermore the present Wigan manager Chris Hutchings has one of the worst transfer records ever. When Jewell left Bradford, it was Hutchings who stepped up from Assistant to Manager, and spent about £10 million (that Bradford couldn't afford) on awful players, got them relegated (and was sacked), and they are suffering in League One now. Wigan are a stronger side than that, and chairman Dave Whelan has money, but spending this much money on Koumas is wild.

Now don't get me wrong, Koumas is a talented guy, as he kid he was very highly rated and in West Brom's first season in the Premiership he had some great moments. He then went through a huge slump, and was out of favour and on-loan at Cardiff. But last year at the Baggies he had a great season, helping them to the playoffs, and was named the Championship player of the year. But he's 27 now, and has only really had ONE season at the top of his game, and that too in the Championship.