The FFA is only considering three local candidates - Melbourne Victory's Ange Postecoglou, Central Coast's Graham Arnold and Western Sydney's Tony Popovic - which Lowy said "would come as no surprise". A foreign candidate will be considered only if terms can not be agreed with one of these three. Before things went sour: Osieck and Lowy embrace after the Socceroos sealed qualification for the WQorld Cup. Credit:Getty Images Asked how long it would take to appoint a coach, Lowy replied: "I hope a week or two. Of course, if it's an Australian, it will be easier … If it's an overseas coach, it will take a little bit longer." Lowy revealed his biggest concern was how appointing a local coach would affect the A-League club that loses its manager. "There are three possible Australian candidates but all three … are tied up with clubs," he said. "The dilemma that we have is how to keep the balance here, because the season [has] just started, the clubs have worked very hard to set themselves up, so it's up to us to find a way to negotiate with whoever we pick, and see what can be done and not to disrupt the plans. One club may be more reasonable than another and we need to be mindful of that.

"The A-League is doing extremely well. We don't need to muck up the balance. We will be discussing, with the clubs and the individuals, how we can solve this problem,'' Lowy said. After all, they are in our family. We are the FFA and they are the clubs, but we are all one game." Some form of compensation is likely to be sought by the A-League club that loses its manager, with Melbourne Victory, in particular, likely to demand hefty remuneration to release Postecoglou. The conundrum might be slightly easier if the job was offered to Popovic, as the FFA owns the Wanderers and he has a ready replacement in Ante Milicic, or to Arnold, who is believed to have a get-out clause at the Mariners. "We will come to terms with them," Lowy said. "I don't think it's a matter of money - it's a matter of who is going to coach them." Lowy also said that Aurelio Vidmar could continue as interim national manager to ensure a smooth transition for the affected club. The FFA is disappointed that Osieck failed to complete the rejuvenation of the squad as he was asked to do in 2010 but Lowy insisted that mistake would not be made again.

When we appointed Holger as coach three years ago, you may recall my words that 'I hope the next coach will be Australian'. That was the plan, and it's still the plan. "I think we are wiser now than we were three years ago,'' Lowy said. "He got us to the World Cup, which was very important, but my objective is to be at every World Cup. It's an ingredient for the popularity for the success of the game in Australia." Loading Meanwhile, Lowy said it was not his place to say whether or not Lucas Neill should carry on as captain after much discussion about his position." He led the Socceroos with distinction for all the time that he was in there, and these are heated times … I don't think we should hang on to every word that is being said," he said. "If he makes himself available, and the coach picks him, fine … I have no decision to make in this regard. If the coach feels he's the person [to be captain], then he is the person." When pressed that it was strange for the captain to criticise young players, as Neill did on Monday, Lowy replied: "You could say that."