FA refuses to rush decision over new England boss

England caretaker boss Stuart Pearce

The Football Association insists it is happy with its plan to wait before recruiting a long-term successor to former England manager Fabio Capello.

England have been without a permanent coach since the departure of Capello on 9 February.

But FA general secretary Alex Horne said: "We haven't approached anybody and have approached no club.

"We continue to work on it, very quietly. We're waiting until the tail end of the season. We're not far away."

Last week, former England captain Alan Shearer became the latest figure to call for an urgent appointment, to allow preparation time before the summer's European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.

But Horne insisted the FA was sticking to its original timetable, while echoing Club England managing director Adrian Bevington's claim that plans for Euro 2012 from an operational point of view were already in place.

Horne told BBC Sport: "What we've done as an FA is clearly set up all our plans.

"We know exactly what we're doing between now and our first game against France [at Euro 2012], and we just need to slot a manager in, giving that individual enough time to get used to the set-up."

After fulfilling his caretaker duties for February's 3-2 friendly defeat by the Netherlands, Stuart Pearce said he would be happy to take control for Euro 2012, but does not believe he is the long-term option.

Harry Redknapp is the firm favourite to take over on a permanent basis but speculation about his future seems to have affected his Tottenham side, who have won only one of their last eight Premier League games.

England open their Group D campaign against France in Donetsk on 11 June, play Sweden in Kiev four days later, and finish the pool against Ukraine in Donetsk on 18 June.

The 23-man squad are also due to attend a pre-tournament training camp in Spain once the Premier League and Champions League campaigns are over.