Sam Allardyce in line to be appointed England manager

The 61-year-old Sunderland boss arrived at Victoria Park for his club’s first pre-season friendly against Hartlepool shortly after 6pm on Wednesday evening as the news emerged that he is likely to be announced as Roy Hodgson’s successor following a Football Association Board meeting on Thursday.

It is a dream appointment for the former Bolton, Newcastle and West Ham manager, who was beaten to the post by Steve McClaren 10 years ago.

If the appointment of Allardyce is announced, it means he will have beaten Hull City manager Steve Bruce to the position, the Tigers’ chief having been in talks with with FA officials at the weekend.

Allardyce’s imminent departure from Wearside came just hours after FA chief executive Martin Glenn revealed the governing body was close to making a decision, but insisted it would not be rushed.

The Sunderland manager has been the bookmakers’ favourite ever since it emerged that he had held talks with the three-man panel - Glenn, vice-chairman David Gill and technical director Dan Ashworth - charged with the task of finding the new man after leaving the club’s pre-season training camp in Austria last week.

Discussions have also been held with Hull counterpart Steve Bruce, while Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe and United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann are also understood to have figured prominently on the FA’s shortlist.

Allardyce will face the task of picking up the pieces after a disastrous Euro 2016 finals campaign which saw England dumped out of the competition by Iceland in ignominious fashion.

However, his remit will be wider than just the senior international squad as the powers that be attempt to address the serial failure of recent decades with the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final success just days away.

Earlier in the day, Glenn had said: “We’re not after a short-term mercenary, someone just to do the job for a couple of years.