Howard Wilkinson to advise FA in deciding next England manager
Decision will not be made until after friendly against Spain
The League Managers Association chairman, Howard Wilkinson, will be called upon to advise the Football Association on the next permanentEngland manager, it has emerged. It is understood that the FA plans to rely on a wider body of opinion than when Sam Allardyce was appointed by the trio of the governing body’s chief executive, Martin Glenn, the then acting chairman, David Gill, and the FA’s technical director, Dan Ashworth.
As such, the former Leeds United manager and one-time FA technical director will be among those consulted. However, it is also understood that Gill will not have a say this time around, following criticism from Sunderland over his role when Allardyce was appointed.
It is believed that Sunderland perceived a conflict of interest between Gill being a Manchester United director and his active role in assessing and approaching potential candidates as acting FA chairman in the interregnum that followed the departure of Greg Dyke.
With Greg Clarke now installed as the new FA chairman it is understood that he will take over from Gill, who remains on the FA board as well as Fifa’s council and the Uefa executive committee, on the decision-making panel.
Gareth Southgate,who stepped in for four matches when Allardyce was forced out following an embarrassing newspaper sting, is expected to be among the leading contenders for the role. Southgate said recently he would want to see what was on the tablein terms of a contract offer before deciding whether to apply for the job full time.
“There is a big difference, for example, between being asked to take the team over the summer or to take the team for three years or take the team for a year and a half,” he said. “I don’t think it is as easy as saying: ‘Yes I would like the job,’ and I would also like to see how it is affecting my family – and my health probably!”
However, it is understood that the FA plans to make a long term appointment – giving the new coach a contract that is likely to stretch to the 2020 European Championship, for which the final is at Wembley, albeit with a break clause after the 2018 World Cup.
Allardyce, whooversaw just one game as England manager before his departure, was on a shorter two-year contract.
The FA has said it will not consider the situation until after Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland and the friendly with Spain next week. Southgate too has said he is happy with that timescale.
While Southgate is a leading contender, Glenn has also said that the FA is determined to consider other options and may wait until the end of the season for the right candidate.
In the wake ofAllardyce’s mutually agreed departure, Glenn said Southgate was “a genuine contender but this isn’t an audition”. In his two matches since, England havedrawn 0-0 in Slovenia andbeaten Malta 2-0 at Wembley.
Speaking at a Sport Industry Group breakfast on Thursday, the FA chief executive added: “We get through the next two games – Spain on Tuesday – and then we’re going to put our heads together, we’re going to talk to Gareth and really understand what his level of interest is in the role and I hope he is interested and wants to put his hat in the ring. And we’ve got a bit of time then to thoroughly assess him and every other candidate.”
Wilkinson, who remains the last English manager to win a league title, had a career that took in spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United and Sunderland and included five years as technical director at the FA between 1997 and 2002.
During that time he oversaw two senior England games as caretaker manager, one in 1998 following the sacking of Glenn Hoddle and again in 2000 when Kevin Keegan resigned.