KEY DATES 05/04 - FA preparing shortlist ahead of formal interviews 27/02 - Three-man team report to FA chairman Geoff Thompson 02/02 - The FA appoints three-man team to find new boss 26/01 - FA wants to appoint successor before World Cup 23/01 - Eriksson to go after World Cup

FA chief executive Brian Barwick (pictured right), international committee chairman Noel White, Premier League chairman Dave Richards and FA vice-chairman David Dein are the four men who have been appointed to find a new boss.

They will be joined in assessing the options by director of football development Trevor Brooking before reporting to FA chairman Geoff Thompson.

BBC Sport rounds up the latest news and speculation surrounding the vacant England job.

Luis Phillipe Scolari has pulled out of the race for the England manager's job.

The 57-year-old says he does not intend to discuss his future employment until his Portugal contract expires in three months' time.

That would not sit nicely with the FA's plans of naming a new boss before the World Cup begins in June.

And BBC Five Live says that he has no plans to return to London and has agreed with the Portuguese football federation not to have any more contact with the FA.

Scolari's admission further heightens the speculation surrounding Steve McClaren and the majority of the national press have the Middlesbrough boss as a strong favourite to land the post.

The News Of The World suggests that Boro have urged the FA to tell them whether or not McClaren will be named the new coach so that they can prepare for life without him.

The Sunday Express reports that England skipper David Beckham has all but sealed the job for the current assistant by throwing his influential support behind him.

And the Independent on Sunday believes that Alan Curbishley and Sam Allardyce will be voted out of the running this week.

If that were to occur, the list would be chopped to two with McClaren in pole position closely followed by Ulsterman Martin O'Neill.

And with the Sunday Express suggesting that O'Neill will be urged to take the vacant post at Newcastle, McClaren firmly assumes the role of front-runner in the national papers.

Luiz Felipe Scolari
15 April - "I'll think about my future after 31 July. I don't know what I'll do after Germany."

Alan Curbishley:
14 April - "I understand the FA want to give the job the thoroughness it deserves and they are looking at every angle. But this has dragged on for some time and got in the way and every match and press conference is getting hijacked."

Steve McClaren:
12 April - "I've coped with it (speculation) game after game but I can't think about anything else (but Middlesbrough). I let everyone else do the speculating. My focus, and I mean this genuinely, is on my job at Middlesbrough and my sole intention is to bring success here."

Guus Hiddink, on confirming his new job as Russia coach:
10 April - "I'm glad this is off my chest now. I have been to Russia already to look at things and I already know that it will be fun to work there."

Luiz Felipe Scolari
8 April - "Dealing with all the Brazilian stars is tough work. It would be easier to manage the likes of Beckham, Owen, Rooney and Terry."

Sam Allardyce:
12 April - "I'd like to reassure everyone connected with Bolton that I'm looking for players so that we can continue to compete with the elite of English and European football."

Gerard Houllier:
29 March - "I have not put my name forward and I have not been interviewed."

Peter Taylor:
24 March - "My meeting was about the role, but I'm sure Alan Curbishley's meeting would have been for the role."

Fabio Capello:
24 March - "Within three years I will pack in coaching at club level and then I want to realise the dream I have always had inside me - England."

Stuart Pearce:
13 March - "England is not a distraction for me, I don't take a great deal of interest in it."