Barwick plans England coach talks
Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick will start the process of picking a new England coach next week.
Current boss Sven-Goran Eriksson will leave after this summer's World Cup in Germany and Barwick is keen to appoint his successor sooner rather than later.
"In practical terms we have that long but that's not going to be the way we play it," he said.
"Next Thursday there is an FA board meeting and the recruitment of the next England coach will be on the agenda."
English managers Sam Allardyce, Alan Curbishley, Steve McClaren, Stuart Pearce and Paul Jewell have all been mentioned as candidates.
But, if the FA decides to appoint another foreign manager to follow Swede Eriksson, Guus Hiddink, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Fabio Capello could be in the running.
Barwick added: "I hope to put to the board a procedure for their consideration.
Barwick on fears England's World Cup preparations could be overshadowed by the search for a new boss
"In the past what has been a practical way for the FA to do this is to call on some of the experienced heads around the FA, create a small group and, with the chief executive leading, to go for and find the appropriate person.
"The process won't probably be in place for a week or a fortnight and after that we do have some time to make the right call.
"We can afford to be patient and try and make the right judgement call and use the time we have in our favour."
The new coach could be appointed before the World Cup to enable him to gain some experience in Germany before England start the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008.
Michael Owen voiced concerns that the search for England's new manager could overshadow the national side's preparations for the World Cup.
But Barwick insisted: "It's easy to divorce the two. There is constant speculation because the press will return to this subject and I fully expect, realise and respect that this is a good story.
"But I hope it won't - there's no way and reason why it should. The two things are pretty significantly divorced."
