



Sunderland have urged the Football Association to accelerate their recruitment process and either swiftly appoint Sam Allardyce as the England manager or inform him he will not be Roy Hodgson’s successor.

Allardyce was formally interviewed for the post on Tuesday night as the FA’s search gathered momentum but it is understood they intend to meet other contenders – likely to include Jürgen Klinsmann, the USA coach, Eddie Howe, the Bournemouth manager and Hull’s Steve Bruce – before reaching a decision. With no fixed timescale, the possibility of Gareth Southgate, the England Under-21-coach, serving as a stand-in has not been ruled out.

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The prospect of such a hiatus horrifies Sunderland who had given Allardyce permission to leave a squad training camp in Austria on Monday to attend his interview at the home of David Gill – the FA vice chairman and a key member of the three man panel charged with identifying the country’s new coach – in Cheshire.

Although the FA maintain they intend to follow “a proper process of elimination” as they work through their shortlist the sense Allardyce and his club could be preparing for a parting of the ways was exacerbated when it was decided it was in everyone’s best interest he does not return to Sunderland’s Alpine training base. He will instead remain in England until the players fly home on Saturday.

Sunderland and the FA had agreed to keep Tuesday’s interview confidential but the publication of photographs of the 61-year-old emerging from Gill’s house at the end of a meeting also attended by Martin Glenn, the FA’s chief executive and Dan Ashworth, the technical director, prompted the club to demand a swift resolution.

Although Sunderland accept that Allardyce, who has a year remaining on his contract, will accept a post he has long craved if he is offered it, they remain desperate to retain the manager who rescued them from near certain relegation after succeeding Dick Advocaat last season.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sam Allardyce, Sunderland’s manager, has held talks with the FA regarding the England job. Photograph: Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Anxious things should not be allowed to drag on, the club released a statement designed to force the FA into action. “The Football Association contacted us to seek permission to speak with our manager as part of what was supposed to be a confidential discussion process,” it read. “At Sam Allardyce’s request, we agreed to this. Sam is very much key to our plans. We want him to remain as manager of our football club.

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“The ongoing speculation over Sam’s position is extremely damaging to Sunderland, particularly at this crucial time of the season and we urge the FA to respect the disruption this process is causing and bring about a swift resolution to the matter.”

With Sunderland having just appointed a chief executive in Martin Bain, who arrived from Maccabi Tel Aviv on 1 July, they could not be facing the prospect of seeking their seventh coach in five years at a worse time.

Undaunted by the mounting anger and frustration on Wearside, the FA are expected to schedule meetings with, among others, Bruce, although suggestions that this could take place as soon as Thursday appear doubtful as, by late on Wednesday neither Hull nor their manager had heard anything from the ruling body.

While negotiations over compensation for Allardyce are likely to be straightforward, identifying a successor may prove trickier and Sunderland are already understood to be drawing up contingency plans.

David Moyes, once of Everton and Manchester United, will loom large on any shortlist but Manuel Pellegrini, the former Manchester City manager and Frank de Boer, the former Ajax coach could also come into contention.