Martin O'Neill has emerged as the Football Association's current first choice to replace Fabio Capello as England head coach when the Italian steps down.
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Martin O'Neill: Friends in high places
According to reports in several UK newspapers the Aston Villa manager is currently the favoured man amongst senior FA officials, who have discounted the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger on the rationale that neither would be prepares to take the job.
While there has been no indication that Capello is considering leaving his post, indeed the Italian has a contract in place until 2012, it is understood that O'Neill has strong supporters at the top level of the FA.
FA chairman Lord Triesman and incoming chief executive Ian Watmore are said to have been impressed with O'Neill's his success at Villa, not least because of his role in nurturing the young English players like Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young.
O'Neill was in the frame to replace Sven-Goran Eriksson as England boss in 2006 but lost out to Steve McClaren, who proved to be a disappointing appointment failing to qualify for the 2008 European Championships.
England under-21 manager Stuart Pearce has been working closely with Capello and had been viewed as a possible heir-apparent to the Italian. Pearce would do his own claims no harm at all if England were to win the European Under-21 championships this summer.
However, unlike the relatively inexperienced Pearce, or previous incumbent McClaren, O'Neill has considerable European experience and a successful track record in domestic football.
The Ulsterman, who won the European Cup as a player with Nottingham Forest, won the English League Cup with unfashionable Leicester City in 1997 and 2000 before moving to Celtic where he won three Scottish Premier League titles, thus qualifying for the Champions League.
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