England’s hopes of winning the 2018 World Cup remain as faint as ever despite Gareth Southgate attempting to bring stability to the national team following five forgetable months for the Three Lions.

The chart, produced by bookmakers’ NetBet, shows that the odds of Gareth Southgate’s side, who face Scotland and Spain in this international break, winning the tournament for the first time since 1966 reached a nadir after the abysmal showing in Brazil in 2014.

England won just one point from three matches in a tough group, and their odds of winning the next World Cup plummeted to 25/1 after that early exit.

A strong performance against Lithuania in March 2015 led to shortened odds of 20/1, as England were the only side to win all ten of their matches in the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

A year later, as England were approaching the beginning of Euro 2016 in good form, the side travelled to Germany and beat their hosts 3-2 after a fantastic comeback, helped by Jamie Vardy’s first international goal.

This unexpected victory saw the bookies cutting the odds even further to 16/1, the shortest they had been since the beginning of the 2014 World Cup.

England manager contenders Show all 6 1 /6 England manager contenders England manager contenders Gareth Southgate - 6/4 Highly thought of by the decision-makers at the Football Association, the former Middlesbrough boss was brought into the fold to coach the Under-21s with an eye on future progression. Faltered at last year's Under-21 European Championship but led the team to victory at the Toulon tournament in the summer. Had no interest in succeeding Hodgson but takes charge for England's next four matches against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and Spain while the FA looks for a permanent appointment. Getty England manager contenders Steve Bruce - 2/1 The former Manchester United defender was interviewed in the summer about the vacant England manager's job. Just days after speaking to the FA, Bruce decided to call time on his spell at Hull, where he had become the most successful manager in the club's history. He remains out of work. Getty England manager contenders Eddie Howe - 8/1 A smart, erudite and tactically-savvy coach who, at 38, looks to have a bright future at the top of the game. The manager has flourished at Bournemouth and only last week described coaching England as the "ultimate" job. "I would never say no," Howe said. Getty England manager contenders Alan Pardew - 8/1 Seemed to be a new man after swapping Newcastle for Crystal Palace and some fine early-season results saw him seriously linked with the England job for the first time in his career. Reached the FA Cup final but league results tailed off badly. A slow start to this campaign has been followed by three successive Premier League victories. Getty England manager contenders Jurgen Klinsmann - 10/1 The former Tottenham striker has managerial experience at international level, having been in charge of the United States for almost five years and Germany before that. America fell to a semi-final Copa America exit in the summer while Klinsmann guided Germany to the last-four stage at the 2006 World Cup. Getty England manager contenders Gary Neville - 25/1 Seemed a heavy favourite to progress from his role as Hodgson's assistant until his ill-advised stint with Valencia saw his stock plummet. It may yet be decided that was a case of the wrong job but the right man. Out of coaching since exiting with Hodgson during the summer, the videos of Allardyce appear to show him saying Neville was the "wrong influence" on his predecessor. Getty

However, yet another thoroughly disappointing campaign in a major tournament ensued, with a 2-1 defeat by minnows Iceland knocking England out of Euro 2016.

Manager Roy Hodgson subsequently left his position and Sam Allardyce was appointed in July 2016 as the bookmakers offered odds of 24/1 for England to be victorious in Russia.

The former Bolton manager was infamously sacked by the FA just 67 days later after being privately filmed boasting about how to bypass FA rules amongst other ill-judged statements.

Match preview: England v Scotland World Cup qualifier

Gareth Southgate was swiftly installed as caretaker manager for the four matches which culminate against Spain on Tuesday and a 0-0 draw against Slovenia in his second game in charge kept the odds of a successful 2018 World Cup at 22/1.