FA wants boss before World Cup

The Football Association hopes to have Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor in place before this summer's World Cup finals in Germany. And the new England team boss's contract is set to include clauses that would try to secure his loyalty to the job. FA chief executive Brian Barwick, who is to put forward a plan to find a successor to English football's governing body next week, believes that it could benefit Eriksson's successor to have the experience of watching the team in the finals knowing that he will be in charge for the international friendly in August. Barwick said: 'What we have is the opportunity to get that person in place hopefully before (the World Cup) and if the upside of that is they can watch the side they inherit in August with a sense of semi-distant ownership then it may well be an advantage. 'Whoever gets the job is getting a remarkable job, he is taking over a fantastic side of really talented players, the most avidly watched side in the world aside from Brazil. One of the things I will be underlining is the scale, the magnitude and the absolutely fantastic opportunity that being the England coach is.' He added: 'Next Thursday there is an FA board meeting and the recruitment of the next England coach will be on the agenda. I hope to put to the board a procedure for their consideration... We can afford to be patient and try to make the right judgement call and use the time we have in our favour.' England striker Michael Owen has admitted that it would be 'annoying' if England's World Cup preparations were disrupted by constant speculation about Eriksson's successor, but Barwick was confident that the two issues could be kept apart. The FA chief executive added: 'It's easy to divorce the two. There is constant speculation because you guys (the press) will return to this subject and I fully expect, realise and respect that this is a good story. 'But I hope it won't - there's no way and reason why it should. The two things are pretty significantly divorced.' Barwick refused to be drawn on how important experience or nationality would be to the selection panel. He said: 'I don't want to put together a photofit picture of the person who will be the next England coach because that will box me into a corner... I have absolutely no doubt that some English managers will apply.' According to a poll in a national newspaper, English footballers want a home-grown successor to Eriksson. Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce is the bookies' favourite to be given the biggest job in English football while Australia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink is the most likely contender among the foreign contingent. Allardyce's fellow Englishmen, the likes of Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren, who is currently Eriksson's number two, and Charlton Athletic's Alan Curbishley are also strongly fancied in the betting.

ITN | January 27, 2006

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