Harry Redknapp has wished Roy Hodgson well after the Football Association approached the West Brom manager for the England role yesterday.
He also said he did not hold any grudges at being overlooked.
The Spurs manager's bottom lip quivered as he said:
"That's my job he's been given!"
Redknapp had been the 'housewives' favourite' to succeed former national team boss Fabio Capello since the Italian quit in February. He had widely-lauded as the answer to England's lack of recent success, and had firmly set his sights on a massive salary.
But everything came unravelling as the FA picked Hodgson - like Redknapp, a Cockney wanker - on Sunday.
Shock waves were felt all around the footballing world, and especially in the media who had first brought the story of Redknapp's 'appointment' to the masses just as Capello was flying out of England last winter.
One media tosser laughed:
"That'll teach us to make stuff up!"
Insiders say the FA "never for one moment" considered Harry Redknapp for the job, and confirmed that the story was "entirely a media invention". They had remained tight-lipped, they say, because it kept Hodgson out of the limelight. Said an FA spokesman:
"We had remained tight-lipped because it kept Hodgson out of the limelight."
