The Football Association today revealed their wish to keep Sven-Goran Eriksson as England head coach for as long as possible - and confirmed they have offered the Swede a new four-year contract to run until 2008.
Eriksson has been made the offer in the last few days, but the FA are expecting lengthy discussions to take place before any agreement is reached. His current contract, reported to be worth £2million a year, expires after the 2006 World Cup.
Since becoming England coach in 2001, he has been linked with jobs at several clubs - notably Chelsea - although the FA insist that is not the reason the new offer has been made. They point to the fact that under Eriksson's command England have lost only one competitive match - the World Cup quarter-final against Brazil - and qualified unbeaten for the Euro 2004 finals.
The offer was revealed following an FA board meeting today, and it was also announced that Trevor Brooking has been appointed to a senior post and that marketing and communications director Paul Barber is to leave the organisation.
FA chief executive Mark Palios said in a statement: "Sven is England's most successful coach since the legendary Sir Alf Ramsey. He has already contributed enormously to the reputation of England in Europe and around the world. This offer shows the faith we all have in him."
As well as Brooking's appointment as director of football development, the Daily Mail'ssports editor Colin Gibson is to take over as the FA's communications director in January.
Regarding Eriksson, the FA say there is no pressure on the England boss to come to a decision quickly. FA head of media relations Adrian Bevington said: "There is no deadline for when an agreement has to be reached, because Sven is already under contract until the summer of 2006."