The Pompey boss is now the shortest-priced English coach among bookmakers to take over from Steve McClaren, who was axed this week after failing to guide England to Euro 2008.

With Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill ruling himself out of the running yesterday and Jose Mourinho unlikely to be interested, the number of viable candidates is declining rapidly.

Former Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello has emerged as the bookies' favourite, but momentum is growing for Redknapp – a skilled man-manager who has the ability to get the very best from his players.

Asked if he would take the job if it was offered to him, Redknapp replied: 'It's a hypothetical question. But I don't think they would offer it to me – that's the feeling you get.

'My name will get mentioned with loads of other names. Everywhere you look, there are different names coming up, so who knows who they will go for?

'I don't take too much notice of it. There is always speculation about who they will pick.'

When asked if an Englishman should lead the national team, Redknapp turned to sarcasm to make a point on the FA's failure to pick the right man for the job in the past.

He smiled: 'I don't know, we're not as clever as these foreign guys are we?

'They are better than us tactically, much cleverer than us and they probably went to better schools than we went to, where I'm sure they all learnt about football.

'Over the years, the FA have been good at picking managers, though, haven't they?

'Look at Brian Clough. He didn't do a very good job at Nottingham Forest and Derby did he?

'When you look back, you can understand why he didn't get the England job because he won only the two European Cups.

'I'm sure they will pick the right man again.'