Matt Reeder: Redknapp is certain to be identified from the usual suspects

Apparently, the Blackpool boss would prefer to stay in club management rather than take over from Fabio Capello when the Italian calls it quits after the 2012 European Championships.

Is that a huge sigh of relief I can hear being breathed around the country?

I do not mean to be too harsh on Holloway, one of the more affable Premier League managers on the circuit, but I cannot help but think the very fact we are linking his name with the job says a lot about our options for a future national team boss.

The call from many football supporters on these shores has been for an Englishman to lead England. But when you look at the choices is that really the be-all and end-all?

Surely we would prefer to have a top-notch coach in the job rather than simply make do just because he is born in our lands. No? Well okay, if English is the way we want to go then let us look at the facts.

A chorus of disapproval met the appointment of Swede Sven Goran Eriksson, our first foreigner in charge, and while we welcomed don Fabio with open arms after the shambles of Steve McClaren's reign, his efforts in South Africa once again led to a desire for someone English to lead the best of our best.

So, when it was confirmed last week that he would not be seeking to continue his role beyond the next tournament in Poland and Ukraine, the scramble to take over started in earnest.

The usual suspects were mentioned.

Those with good contacts in the national media such as Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce were first to put their names in the hat. Once they had been 'linked' they were followed swiftly and surely by every and any other English manager worth their salt – including Mr Holloway.

Some have said they would love the job, others have been so noble as to decline the 'opportunity' but, when all is said and done, the real topic for conversation is actually the lack of options which will be open to the FA once their highly-paid Italian says ciao.

Let us take a look at the Premier League and see how many home-grown leaders we have in contention: not many is the answer.

Aside from the aforementioned Redknapp, Allardyce and the already ruled out Holloway we have only two other candidates in the relatively-new Chris Hughton at Newcastle and serial club-hopper Steve Bruce at Sunderland. Not a great list of possibles, is it?

And therein lies the problem. The basic CV of an international manager should include a trophy or two, maybe even a league win and some Champions League football, but the only candidate we have matching such criteria is Redknapp who won the FA Cup with Portsmouth and has this season taken Spurs on a Champions League tour.

With such limited options will the FA call off the chase now and announce that Redknapp is their choice for the future? No, that is not their style.

Instead, we will spend the next two years umming and aahing, and headlines will continue to pose questions when we really already know the answers.

If we want to go English then Redknapp is our only choice – end of.