According to the BBC, Harry Redknapp has hinted that his managerial career is over following his sacking by Championship outfit Birmingham City. 

After a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Preston North End made it six successive defeats, Redknapp was sacked by the Blues on Saturday and has already spoken about what he feels the future holds for him.

"I'm a realist," the former Tottenham Hotspur manager said. "I doubt very much whether [I'll get another job]. If I could help someone somewhere, help a young manager, I'd love that. I did it at Derby with Darren Wassall and had a great time.

Speaking more generally about his time at St Andrews, he stated, "They've got a squad that is probably as good as they have had for a long time. I still feel they are capable of challenging for the play-offs," despite the club being one place off the bottom of the Championship.

"I genuinely believe they have seven forward players who are as good as any in the Championship, who unfortunately haven't been playing because of injury. They are going to be fantastic players, Premier League players for sure, hopefully with Birmingham one day," he continued.

"I'm sure there are great times ahead. I wish the club every success. Given time, we would have turned it round but whoever goes in is going to take over a good group. I took over a team that got out of trouble on the last day of last season, they'd had two wins out of 25, they weren't good enough. It needed change.

"But unfortunately I couldn't get the players in that I was after and it went down to deadline week before I got a big influx. Then it was six players making their debut on one day, then three games in that week, so even working on the training ground was difficult. It's a shame I didn't have the chance to see it through but time is something you don't get an awful lot of," he concluded.

The Verdict:

The statement is classic Redknapp, lots of excuses, a splash of exaggeration and an almost palpable sense of relief that he has been given the bullet and therefore presumably entitled to a payout.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances in every situation, but Redknapp talks as if he couldn't improve players on the training pitch, or come up with a tactical style that would mask his player's weaknesses and accentuate their strengths.

Birmingham locked themselves into a situation where Redknapp had to stay on as soon as he secured survival last season, when in reality, the best course of action would have been getting a younger man in, who does not rely so much on the transfer market.

Birmingham fans - what do you think? Let us know below...