ENGLAND’S footballers arrive home from South Africa today after an abject World Cup campaign ended with humiliating defeat against a vibrant young German team.

Several players from the tournament’s second-oldest squad (after fellow flops Italy) will undoubtedly have reached the end of the road at the highest level – but the biggest question mark hangs over the immaculately-coiffured head of beleaguered boss Fabio Capello.

The Italian astutely negotiated a two-year extension to his contract just before the finals kicked off, and it could cost the Football Association £12m to terminate his reign.

If the bigwigs decide that Capello’s not so Fab after all, there’s little doubt that Harry Redknapp will emerge as one of the front-runners in the race to take over.

Sandbanks’ most famous resident is at the World Cup as a pundit with the BBC, and has been reported as saying he believes Capello should be given more time to turn things round, starting with a friendly against Hungary next month and the opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria in September.

Harry’s son, Jamie, however, in his national newspaper column, says, “I don’t believe the England job is an impossible job... but I have always thought the England manager should be English.”

He doesn’t put his father forward for the position, but claims, “Fabio Capello has had a World Cup to forget... let’s give the job to an Englishman.”

So will it be grazie and arrivederci Fabio, all hail Harry?

The men who will decide Capello’s future – Dave Richards (Club England chairman), Trevor Brooking (FA director of football), Alex Horne (acting FA chief executive), Adrian Bevington (Club England managing director) – may decide the cost of sacking Capello is prohibitive.

And a pending court case over alleged tax evasion may also count against Redknapp.

If Redknapp were to become England’s next manager, though, he would start with some advantages.

For a start, he’s a great talker, especially by comparison with Capello, who still hasn’t mastered the English language after two and a half years and many lessons.

Harry is popular with the media, and has put in some strong displays on the BBC sofa – his best moment coming in the analysis of Japan’s win over Denmark, when he joked that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy wouldn’t let him swap his Bentley (winger David) for a (pin-up striker Keisuke) Honda.”

And Redknapp, despite his smiling, laid-back image, is tactically astute, having guided Tottenham to fourth in the Premiership, landing a lucrative and prestigious Champions League slot.

He favours attacking football, generally gets the best out of players and is a good motivator.

At 63, he’s a year younger than Capello, although a few months older than his main rival, Roy Hodgson.

He has also been closely involved in the development of many of the best English players, including some relatively untarnished by the latest failure, such as Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe.

On the other hand, he loves wheeling and dealing, and would surely miss the daily cut and thrust of being a club manager.

Earlier this year, referring to the England job, he said, “it’s getting a bit late for me now”, adding, “only seeing them (the players) every six to eight weeks wouldn’t be for me.”

However, things have moved on, and if a week is a long time in politics, it can be an eternity in football – and yesterday, Redknapp told Talksport that he would jump at the chance to manage his country.

He never played for England; managing the national side would be a tempting proposition...