Hull City have yet to receive a formal approach from the English Football Association to speak to manager Steve Bruce about the England vacancy.
Sam Allardyce has returned to work at Sunderland after he held talks with the FA on Tuesday as the process continues to find a successor to Roy Hodgson.
Bruce, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe and United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann are also reportedly on the FA shortlist.
Hull, though, confirmed to Press Association Sport on Thursday lunchtime there had been no official approach for the club’s manager.
See also:
• English FA given permission to speak to Sam Allardyce but speculation is 'damaging to Sunderland'
Former Manchester United defender Bruce guided Hull back to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs and like all club managers is currently busy with pre-season preparations.
Allardyce is understood to be one of a series of potential candidates due to hold discussions with FA technical director Dan Ashworth, chief executive Martin Glenn and vice-chairman David Gill.
The 61-year-old Englishman left Sunderland’s training camp in Austria, ostensibly to continue his pursuit of summer transfer targets, and was given permission by Sunderland to meet the FA’s representatives for what were supposed to be confidential talks.
The former Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United manager, who was overlooked for the England job a decade ago, is now back on club duty in Wearside.
Whatever happens, Sunderland are hoping for a swift conclusion to the matter as they contemplate the prospect of having to find a ninth permanent manager in eight years, something they are desperate to avoid after believing they had struck gold when they appointed their current manager in October last year.
Former England captain Steven Gerrard is convinced England can take things “to the next level” with the right man in charge.
Gerrard won 114 caps for England before retiring after the 2014 World Cup, and also played under the likes of Kevin Keegan, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello.
The 36-year-old midfielder, who joined Major League Soccer side the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2015, believes once the new man is at the helm, he will inherit a group of players much stronger for the bitter disappointment of Euro 2016.
“This experience and this hurt, I think, will help all of those players moving forward because they won’t want to experience it again,” Gerrard said in an interview with Virtual Reality company Laduma.
“They will want to improve and get better, and I think with the right manager and the right coaching staff around this group, they can take it to the next level.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
