London - The Football Association may be reluctant to hire a foreigner as Sam Allardyce's replacement as full-time England manager based on previous painful experiences, FA chief executive Martin Glenn told the BBC on Wednesday.
Glenn, who admitted he had been personally disappointed by
Allardyce's behaviour in which he advised journalists posing as Far Eastern
businessmen about circumventing the ban on third-party ownership of players,
added the national set-up had not been left in a great state when the foreign
managers left.
Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italy's Fabio Capello are the
two foreigners the FA have turned to with varying degrees of success this
century.
Eriksson - along with Roy Hodgson the only manager to have
gone to three major finals with England in the past 20 years - guided England
to three successive quarter-finals, losing to Portugal on penalties in two of
them.
Capello's reign was far less harmonious and included a
woeful 2010 World Cup finals campaign culminating in a 4-1 thrashing by
Germany.
"In the past we've gone for foreign managers who'd be attracted as they might help us win a tournament," said Glenn, who was head-hunted last year to take up the role after a successful career in the food industry.
"They haven't maybe left the international set up in a
better place.
"We want somebody there for the long term."
Glenn said one of the biggest conundrums the next manager
faced and one that his predecessors had singularly failed to resolve is ridding
the players of their demons with regard to donning the England shirt.
"We have been very successful at winning tournaments in
the development teams," said Glenn.
"The under-21s, the under-19s, when we put our boys up
against the best in the world we are winning.
"We're not translating that enough when it comes to the
senior team.
"We think the difference is psychological preparation,
this fear factor when you put on the England shirt.
"The manager we hire will really understand that and
will have detailed plans to address it."
Glenn said he expected interim manager Gareth Southgate, who
impressed in his stewardship of the England Under-21 side but ruled himself out
when Hodgson stepped down after losing to Iceland at Euro 2016, to be a
candidate.
Southgate has thus far been in charge for two 2018 World Cup
qualifiers, England's 2-0 win over Malta and a drab 0-0 draw against Slovenia.
The former England and Aston Villa centre-back will remain
in charge for the qualifier against Scotland at Wembley on November 11 and the
home friendly with Spain four days later.
"He will almost certainly be a candidate. It's up to him to decide whether he wants to do it," said Glenn.