Fan tells Redknapp: Scott Canham better than Lampard

I'd like to ask Gary if he thinks that the publicity he's given young Frank there warrants it? Because personally I don't think he's quite good enough yet. And I also think that in the last couple of years you've let some good midfielders go for peanuts, like Matt Holland and Scott Cannon. Well no, he definitely wasn't good enough. He is good enough and he definitely will be good enough. I let Scott Cannon go. He was a good kid and worked very hard. He's gone to Brentford. He can't get in Brentford's team. He's 21 years of age. I let him go because young Frank's 17 or 18 and he's miles in front of him. Well that ain't really true. That is true. You know, that's my opinion and that's why I get paid to make judgements on players. No, if you look very carefully, I don't think he's been in too regularly. Well that's your opinion. Again, it's a game of opinions and you've got a right to your opinion but I've also got a right to my opinion. You know, that's my opinion. Obviously, I keep the players I want to keep. Young Matt Holland, yeah, I think he may bounce back and maybe First Division and he's a decent player. And young Scott Cannon's a decent player. Don't get me wrong. He's a decent young player. We offered him a two-year contract and he turned it down. He didn't want to stay here. You know, it was Scott's, you know, it was his decision to leave the club. I tried my hardest to keep him here. I doubled his wages. I gave him a two-year contract. I said, if you get in the team, you'll earn good money, you know. But no, I tell you now, you know, you can sit in front of all these people, I tell you, without any shadow of a doubt, there will be no comparison with what Frank Lampard will achieve in football and what Scottie Cannon will achieve in football. But you'll give him the opportunity. I don't give him the opportunity. You know, there is no favouritism. In fact, I'll probably hold him back more because I'll tell you what. Frank did it at Arsenal and he clearly wasn't ready to play. Yeah, I don't think he did badly at Arsenal. I think he came into the side and I felt... Hang on. Just a moment. One at a time. I thought the kid came into the side and did well, you know. But I'm telling you now, and I may be now, I didn't want to say this in front of him, but he will go right to the very top. Right to the very top. Well, there you are. You heard it here first. And I tell you now, there ain't no doubt about that, in my opinion. You know, because he's got everything that's needed to become a top-class midfield player. His attitude, his first class, he's got strength, he can play, he can pass it and he can score goals. Well, I mean, I do go to reserve games and stuff, so I do know... Sure, I know you. Yeah, I'm not saying you don't. I ain't saying you don't or I'm not saying you don't know. It's, you know, it's your opinion. It's fine. But I'm telling you, in my opinion, I couldn't be more strong-hearted about him. I think it's not just Harry's opinion. I don't know if many of you knew, but during the European Championships in the summer, England decided to take several young players from all over the country to various training sessions. When Terry Venables came down to the ground to speak to Harry and I not too long ago, he said there was two outstanding youngsters of all the ones he had. That was Frank and Rio. He said they were the two best players he's had in the whole time in that England set-up. He can't say any more than that. A question for Frank, following on the last question. From that youth team that was tremendous last year, which players does he think is going to go all to the top with himself? Well, I'd say there's a batch of about four or five that have got a great chance. Obviously Rio, who's broke for already. And Lee Hodges and Manny who are on loan at the moment and doing well. So I think it's a case of just getting experience over a year. We all had a good year last year. Now we've just got to take that step up. And obviously some will do it quicker than others. But I think even below us, the year below us, we've got league one and we've got players coming through at schoolboy level. I think over the next few years you'll see three, four, maybe five players coming through, which is more than we've had for the last five, ten years.