STOKE City chairman and FA councillor Peter Coates wants Harry Redknapp to be the next England manager.

The FA are searching for a new national team boss after Fabio Capello resigned last night following showdown talks at Wembley.

Tottenham manager Redknapp is the bookies' favourite for the job... and Coates would love to see him appointed.

He has long been an admirer of Redknapp and revealed he tried to get the then-Bournemouth boss to manage Stoke more than 20 years ago.

"I did try to get him before he went to West Ham," he said. "I spotted him early!

"I would be very happy with Harry Redknapp if he took the England job. He has earned it over a long period of time and produced a lot of good teams.

"But this is all premature at the moment because we don't know if he would take the job now, or whether Spurs would accept losing him."

Whatever the outcome of any tug-of-war over Redknapp, Coates would prefer the next England manager to be British.

Failing that, he says the new man must at least have experience of English football.

Coates felt Capello's inexperience of the English game when he took the England job in 2008 had made life difficult for him, even though he had enjoyed great success abroad with the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus.

Coates, pictured right, explained: "I felt Fabio Capello's lack of experience of English football was one of his downfalls.

"His record as a club manager was very impressive, but it didn't help that he hadn't got experience here, and he also struggled with the language.

"Personally I would like the next manager to be English, or at least British.

"I wouldn't be in favour of a foreign manager unless, like Arsene Wenger, they had good experience of working in England."

Capello clashed with the FA after disagreeing with their decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy, a decision on which Coates and his fellow FA Board members were consulted.

The defender is awaiting trial after being charged with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand last year.

However, the trial will not take place until July, after this summer's European Championships, and the FA decided Terry could not be England captain until the case was resolved, much to the fury of Capello.

The FA were not anticipating Capello quitting at yesterday's meeting, but both sides were determined to stick to their guns.

FA chairman David Bernstein said the resignation was the right course of action, before adding: "We would like to thank Fabio for his work with the England team."

Capello was due to leave his £6m-a-year job after Euro 2012, but now his successor, and the FA will have to deal with Spurs first if they do want Redknapp, will have only four months to prepare for the finals.

Stuart Pearce, the England under-21 head coach and coach of the GB Olympic team, is expected to be put in charge for the friendly with Holland at Wembley on February 29.

After that, the new manager will have just two friendlies to work with ahead of Euro 2012, against Norway on May 26 and Belgium on June 2.

The first competitive match will be against France in Donetsk on June 11.

Related stories:

Robbie Earle: Capello was wrong to cross FA ... but I sympathise with his backing of Terry

Stoke City: Pulis blasts FA decision to strip Terry of England captaincy

Stoke City: O'Neill could be just the man for England, says TP

Who do you think should be England's next manager?