FA to cast net wider after getting fingers burnt with Scolari

Harry Redknapp gets his point across to players at White Hart Lane on Saturday (AFP)

The Football Association plans to interview a range of candidates as well as Harry Redknapp, the favourite for the vacant England manager's job, and will not expect the new man to start until the end of the domestic season.

The Club England committee met on Friday to discuss plans for the recruitment of Fabio Capello's successor and made a clear decision that in order to have the best possible position in negotiations it would be futile to have just one candidate.

The FA chairman, David Bernstein (below) admitted as much in Thursday's press conference when he said the one-candidate policy was dangerous for the governing body and could prove expensive in terms of wages. England have been caught in that position before, most notably six years ago with Luiz Felipe Scolari, who later rejected them, and then in 2007 with Capello.

The committee has also decided that it will not take a manager away from his club in mid-season. Ideally, it would want the new man to take charge for Euro 2012 this summer but hasn't ruled out the possibility he could come in afterwards. Stuart Pearce is in charge of the team for this month's friendly against the Netherlands.

There will not be a decision this week on the England job and in any case it would be impossible for the FA to speak to Redknapp, who flew to Dubai yesterday for a break with his wife, Sandra, after the exertions of his successful defence in the tax evasion case against him which finished last week.

There is a small range of English candidates, with Alan Pardew the only English manager apart from Redknapp and Roy Hodgson making an impression in the Premier League. But Pardew's announcement last week that he is not interested in the job means he is at longer odds than Pearce with bookmakers to get the job on a permanent basis.

Capello may yet be appointed Internazionale manager after they lost again yesterday to Novara, Serie A's bottom-placed club.