New for the 2010/11 season, the LMA has launched the LMA Manager Interview Series. Interviews will be conducted with managers throughout the campaign from the Barclays Premier League and the npower Football League.

We start the season with exclusive interviews with Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp and Blackpool manager, Ian Holloway.

Last season was a triumphant one for a number of English managers, amongst them Harry Redknapp and Ian Holloway who both accomplished firsts in their managerial careers. Redknapp led Tottenham Hotspur into a Champions League qualification place and was voted Barclays Premier League Manager of the Year. Meanwhile Ian Holloway took Blackpool to the Championship play-off final where they beat Cardiff to earn promotion to the Barclays Premier League and Holloway his first chance to manage amongst football’s elite.  Redknapp took time out of his pre-season preparations to speak with the LMA’s Sue McKellar.

With how much added impetus are you approaching this season now that you have the chance to qualify for the Champions League group stages for the first time in your career?

“It’s massive and I am really excited about it. We all sat around the TV at the training ground and waited eagerly for the draw to see who we would be playing. It would be great to make the group stages of the competition and if we could do that it would be something to really look forward to. However, the Barclays Premier League is always massive for us so hopefully we will be fighting on both fronts throughout this season.”

There have been concerns raised over the last few years that there weren’t enough English managers with top level experience. You being awarded the Barclay’s Premier League Manager of the Year last season, Roy Hodgson the LMA Manager of the Year and Steve McClaren winning the Dutch title must have gone a long way to dispelling such views....

“I think people just need to be given the opportunities.  The problem has been that many English managers haven’t been given a chance by some foreign owners who have come in and bought Premier League clubs.  There’s no doubt that there are some great British managers in English football and if they are given the tools to work with, they will do a good job. Hopefully this pattern will now change and when Sir Alex finishes one day at Old Trafford, Manchester United will give a young British manager an opportunity.  It’s the same way with the England manager job;  after Fabio Capello’s reign, I would like to see an English manager given the opportunity again and I am sure there will be a young English manager out there who will be capable of doing the job.”

Conversely, how important do you believe that Steve McClaren’s success of winning the Dutch League and being named Dutch Coach of the Year has been in opening up possible opportunities for British managers abroad?

“Steve has done an amazing job. When he went to Holland I thought ‘what on earth is he doing going to F.C. Twente because he’s not going to win the Championship with Twente?’....but he did! He’s done an incredible job and put himself right back up there where he belongs and regained the respect that had perhaps diminished because of his experience with the England job. He has come back with a real vengeance and proved to everybody what a good manager and coach he is.

Steve’s success is also important in a broader sense for all British managers. Over the years not enough British managers have had the opportunities to work abroad. Steve has now become the first English manager to be appointed in the Bundesliga so hopefully what Steve has done will continue to open up avenues for other managers. It would also be a great experience for British managers to go and work abroad and then return to work again in England with what they have learnt as well.”

Several Barclays Premier League managers have commented to me over the years that Roy Hodgson has done what many of them would have like to have done and worked abroad; is that something that interested you?

“Roy Hodgson has accumulated so much experience and he is a traveller. I was out in South Africa with him during the World Cup and he has managed in so many places; some people only think of him managing Inter Milan but he really has travelled the globe and he has accumulated great experience. We are all different and I’d be a liar if I sat here and said yes I’d have like to have done that too.  I learned my trade in the lower divisions starting off at Oxford City and Bournemouth so I took a different route to Roy but certainly what he has done has been fantastic. Roy speaks different languages, has contacts and great coaching ideas that he has picked up from all over the word and I am sure that will be very useful to him as Liverpool manager.”

We’ve talked about some English manager achievements last season but it mustn’t be forgotten that Carlo Ancelotti won the Double in his first season at Chelsea...

“I was very impressed by that; Carlo did a great job and seems a great guy. He’s obviously a good coach and manager and his record told you that from when he was managing A.C. Milan. To do the Double still isn’t easy whether you are Chelsea, Manchester United or any other of the big Barclays Premier League sides. I believe that all the players at Chelsea have been very impressed with him and he has done a marvellous job.”