FA stick to England boss plan

The Football Association have no intention of being railroaded into approaching candidates for the vacant England job before they are ready.

It is now almost two months since Fabio Capello's shock resignation following a dispute over the FA's treatment of John Terry.

Stuart Pearce took over as an interim boss for the friendly defeat to Holland at the end of February but with time ticking down to Euro 2012, there has still been no move made to find Capello's replacement.

Harry Redknapp remains the overwhelming favourite, with Roy Hodgson believed to be meriting consideration and others also likely to come into the frame.

However, Press Association Sport understands there have been no moves as yet and there has been no indication when that situation will change.

The four-man Club England board, FA chairman David Bernstein, chief executive Alex Horne, director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking and Club England managing director Adrian Bevington, have held private discussions on the matter and are sticking to the rather loose timeline of "back end of the season" for a final decision to be made.

That could be any point from now onwards, so speculation about approaches being made within a fortnight may not be wide of the mark.

Certainly, the Club England board are not confined by the widespread theory that they will wait until the domestic season reaches its conclusion on May 13 and there is a distinct possibility it will be done by then.

In addition, it has been pointed out that whilst Pearce remains a back-up option, the preference remains to have a permanent manager in place for the two pre-tournament friendlies, in Norway on May 26 and against Belgium at Wembley seven days later.

"The message remains the same. No-one has been spoken to and no-one has been approached," said an FA spokesman. "We are quite happy with where we are."