THE Football Association will meet today to begin the task of finding a successor to Fabio Capello as England manager.

Yet again, the national team is in a mess: forced to dump John Terry as captain; and now having to search for a manager within months of Euro 2012.

The FA has developed a habit of being ham-fisted but, on this occasion, it did the right thing in stripping Terry of the captaincy.

While we have sympathy with Capello’s insistence on the “innocent until proven guilty” principle, the reality is that England could not have gone into a major tournament with such serious accusations hanging over the team captain.

Passions are running high over Terry’s alleged racism and team spirit would surely have been undermined if he had retained the captain’s armband.

England have had a disappointing return for the £24m Capello has been paid in four years and his success as manager has been affected by communication problems. He has failed to connect with the media and, like it or not, that has become a key requirement of the job.

England need someone who can manage the media and it is hard to think of anyone better equipped to do that than Harry Redknapp.

His cheeky chappie humour is disarming and he has done an outstanding job in guiding Tottenham Hotspur to become title contenders.

The FA should waste little time in weighing up the options. While a legal cloud still hangs over John Terry, the skies over Harry Redknapp have cleared with perfect timing.

We need look no further.