Schmeichel: England have 'big problems'

Fabio Capello resigned last month, while John Terry was stripped of the armband until after his trial for alleged racist abuse, leaving the Three Lions without a manager or permanent captain Schmeichel, who won the European Championship with Denmark in 1992, feels the leadership vacuum within the England set-up means they have little chance in Poland and Ukraine this summer. "A lot of people talk to me about whether England have got a chance because they are desperate to win a big tournament for the first time since 1966,” Schmeichel told Goal.com at Carlsberg’s headquarters in Copenhagen at an event to mark 100 days until the start of Euro 2012. “England have got their problems - with focus on issues like who is captain and who is manager, I think they have big, big problems. They needed a manager yesterday, not tomorrow. "My personal belief is that England had the choice of manager who could win the tournament. I thought Capello was a good choice of manager but he's not there anymore. It's going to be very tough for England. “The interim manager [Stuart Pearce] has picked a young team. I don’t know if he’s rested all the experience players but we have no idea what England are going to be like in the competition.” Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, is hot favourite to take over from Capello, but is undecided on his desire for the role and remains determined not to leave White Hart Lane before the end of the season. Schmeichel reckons Redknapp should think twice about whether he wants to leave Spurs for the England job, which he has previously described as his “dream” position. Schmeichel added: “I’m led to believe that it’s his dream job but at the moment he has another job and after he was acquitted in his court case he made a very big point of thanking Daniel Levy and Tottenham for supporting him in the most difficult time of his life. “I think he’s faced with a really tough choice because I think his dream is to manage England. The opportunity is there but what he has is an incredible team with a great club, a great football club and he might feel that he’s in debt to this football club or he might not take the opportunity if it comes his way. “He was very grateful to Daniel Levy and now he’s going to ask for something in return, and the question is do you really want to leave something you’ve built – maybe the best bit of managerial work you’ve ever done – which anyone who knows a little bit about football can see it’s not finished. “That team can go further than they are now. It’s a great team, great players, he’s got players like Modric playing like he’s the best players in the world. That is a skill that a manager, a top top manager has that he can get players to produce that kind of form.”