Gareth Southgate’s successor as England men’s manager could be a woman, says FA CEO Mark Bullingham, amid fans calling for Sarina Wiegman to turn them into winners too

The FA’s CEO has said a woman could replace Gareth Southgate as the next England men’s manager.

Sarina Wiegman is poised to become the first individual to lead an English senior football team to a World Cup on foreign soil when her women’s team takes on Spain on Sunday, ending a 57-year wait for the top prize in our national game.

FA chief Mark Bullingham said he would try to appoint “the best person for the job” when looking for a successor to Southgate, whose contract expires at the end of next year – be it male or female.

Bullingham said, ‘It’s the best person for the job. If that best person is a woman, why not? You analyze the pool for the job at that moment. Do I think there’s a really strong, diverse pool of both men and women for a big national job? No. I think the talent pool is actually small for both. But I don’t like the idea that it has to be a man.’

Bullingham, who said he will seek a contract extension that will tie Wiegman and her coaching staff to England after her current deal runs until 2025, did not dismiss the idea that she could be a successor to Southgate. But he said he didn’t like “the language,” suggesting the men’s job was a step up.

He said, “I think it’s a bit disrespectful of the Lionesses to project it as a step up.

“We think Sarina is doing a great job and hope she continues to do it for a long time. Sarina can do whatever she wants in football.’

While it’s a fascinating idea that Wiegman directs the men, given the way she’s injected tremendous confidence into her team, leading them to become European and possibly now world champions, realistically the FA should have known that public opinion was ready for the first woman in international men’s football.

The far greater threat to Wiegman not to lead England beyond 2025 is a blow to her from the US, after coach Vlatko Andonovski stepped down on Thursday.

Bullingham insisted that the FA firmly reject any attempt by the US to take the 53-year-old Wiegman, who earns a salary of around £400,000 a year.

Asked if he would reject an approach if he was hand, he said, “Yes, 100 percent.” No price would be enough to get rid of her, he insisted.

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “We are very happy with her and we feel that she is happy. I think that’s the answer.’

The FA is already planning to erect a statue to Wiegman and members of her team – an idea of Mail Sports Chris Sutton on our new ‘It’s all Kicking Off’ podcast on Monday.

An idea to erect a statue for Wiegman’s European Championship winning team at Wembley had been in the pipeline for some time, with designs under consideration that would include some or all of the players.

Bullingham said: ‘It’s something we’re looking at after the euro.

“We’ve made progress on that and it would be good to have something to commemorate that success outside of Wembley.

“It’s more the whole team (than Sarina). There are many stages you have to go through – we managed to get through the first stage.

“You have to go through several permissions — we went through that. The next phase is the design.’

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But as the countdown continued to the final – in which England play in their light blue away kit with white socks – the FA and players were still at odds on Thursday night over the issue of the performance-related bonuses Wiegman’s stars should have. agreed prior to the World Cup.

The players had broken off negotiations with the FA, saying they were ‘disappointed’ that no solution had been found.

Bullingham insisted there had not been enough time for the tournament because FIFA had agreed prize money so late. He stated that he was confident that a solution would be found after the tournament.

But sources close to the players insisted the FA had not backed down from its stance that there should be no bonus on top of the prize money – and timing was not involved.

The source said: ‘The senior FA people only got involved at the very last minute, which didn’t help, and made the players feel like they weren’t being taken very seriously.’