FA chief drops hint that Gareth Southgate is shoo-in for interim England role

Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn hinted on Tuesday that Gareth Southgate will become interim England manager and suggested a female coach could succeed Roy Hodgson on a permanent basis.

Glenn hopes to have appointed a successor by the start of England’s 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign in early September, but said that if not, “we have an interim plan in mind”.

Asked if he was speaking about England under-21 coach Southgate, the British bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Hodgson, he said: “We are not talking about names today, but it would be a pretty obvious one to pick.”

Glenn revealed that he, FA technical director Dan Ashworth and FA vice-chairman David Gill, the former Manchester United director, will lead the search for Hodgson’s replacement.

“We clearly need an inspirational manager who can harness the big resources that the English game has got, everything we have now got at St George’s Park (the national training centre), to make us more resilient in tournaments,” Glenn said.