Sam Allardyce has won the race to succeed Roy Hodgson – but only after his old enemy Arsene Wenger passed up the chance to be England’s new manager.

The Football Association’s three-man panel of technical director Dan Ashworth, chief executive Martin Glenn and vice-chairman David Gill will tell a board meeting on Thursday that Allardyce is their preferred candidate, and will work on a compensation deal with Sunderland.

Telegraph Sport can reveal, however, that Allardyce will be appointed as the panel’s second choice after Wenger let the opportunity to take the job go.