The Football Association today began the formal process of interviewing candidates for the vacant England manager’s job after Gareth Southgate met with senior officials at St George’s Park.
Southgate’s four-game spell as interim boss ended last week with a 2-2 draw against Spain, after which the 46-year-old declared himself ready to succeed Sam Allardyce on a permanent basis.
A three-man panel comprising FA chairman Greg Clarke, chief executive Martin Glenn and technical director Dan Ashworth, supplemented by advisers Howard Wilkinson and Graeme Le Saux, will decide whether Southgate is the right man to lead England to the 2018 World Cup and beyond.
The FA are at this stage unlikely to interview another candidate although Standard Sport understands the organisation retains an interest in speaking to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger if the Frenchman was to show any indication he would take the role.
Wenger has so far distanced himself from any such discussions and the FA are therefore expected to offer Southgate a four-year contract with his appointment set to be confirmed at a board meeting scheduled for 30 November.
Recent controversies including photographs of captain Wayne Rooney apparently drunk on a night off and claims Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana visited a strip club on the same evening are not thought to have affected Southgate’s candidacy but a separate investigation is ongoing.
Captain Wayne Rooney had to apologise to Southgate after he was pictured looking worse for wear at the team hotel.
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A statement, released earlier in the week after the Rooney allegations, said: "England personnel have a responsibility to behave appropriately at all times.
"We will be reviewing our policy around free time while on international duty."
Meanwhile, former FA executive Adrian Bevington says Southgate is "the only candidate" for the job.
"(The FA management) know Gareth as well as anybody and I don't think they will be speaking to anybody else," Bevington told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
