Former England and British Lions rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward has told the BBC how he turned down an offer of a high ranking position within the FA after his World Cup victory with England in 2003. Shamed former FA chief executive Mark Palios had spoken to him at the time about the senior position.

“I met him (Palios) on a couple of occasions,” Woodward said.

“All I said was…I wanted to get far more hands-on experience with a football team and do some coaching.”

“It’s a job I’d very much like to do, but I wouldn’t want to do it immediately.

“I’d just come from a successful rugby union World Cup-winning campaign. I’d rather spend at least a year, or a couple of years, working with a club and doing all my coaching badges.”

Woodward took over as Southampton Director of Football late last year, moving up from his position of performance director after only four months at the club. He is about to start a course to gain his Uefa A, or level four, coaching badge, having already passed levels two and three. If he passes that he will then only need to gain the Uefa Pro Licence in order to be qualified to become a Premiership boss which is his ultimate aim in around 18 months time.

He said, “It’s been fascinating going back and doing a coaching course. Any guy who wants to become a top manager has to go for those badges.

“If it goes well, it’s probably a year and a half, two years, before you’re fully qualified as a professional football coach, which is something I want to do.

“I feel I would be a far better rugby union coach after having six months working in another sport and listening to other ideas. It is good to get a break.”

After three years as one of the FA’s five main sponsorship partners, Pepsi have decided to end their association with English football’s governing body after the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Pepsi’s decision now leaves the FA free to pursue another lucrative deal with Pepsi’s soft drink competitors, with Powerade supposedly high on the list to tie their energy drink brand to the English national team. Another alternative would be to sell sponsorship of the new Wembley Stadium’s name with soft drink giant Coca Cola being lined up for that spot.

The FA’s group commercial director Jonathan Hill issued the following statement: “We respect Pepsi’s decision and remain absolutely confident the recently announced FA Partner Programme will go from strength to strength with a combination of new and existing partners.

This announcement was not unexpected and we are now keen to progress our strategy of focusing on the sports energy drink market for The FA moving forward.

The FA will be making further sponsorship announcements in the near future and thanks Pepsi for their support of The FA over the last three years. We wish them well with their future activities.”

A spokesman for Pepsi said: “Pepsi has a good relationship with the FA and has been a proud partner of the England team for three years, but we have decided not to renew our sponsorship beyond 2006.

We will continue our fruitful collaboration with The FA and Team England right up to the end of this year’s World Cup.

Pepsi remains committed to football and will be reinvesting its resources into an exciting new strategic platform for football activity in the UK, the details of which will be revealed in due course.”

One of the influential men who will pick the next England manager, Premier League chairman Dave Richards, wants Sven-Goran Eriksson’s successor to be British.

Richards, Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick and international committee chairman Noel White will present a list of candidates for the job to a full FA board meeting on February 27. Eriksson will quit after this summer’s World Cup in Germany, and the views of Richards would appear to rule out Dutchman Guus Hiddink, but tellingly not former Northern Irish captain Martin O’Neill.

“I do believe it’s time for a British manager - somebody who understands our passion, belief and commitment to the game,” Richards told The Sun. “For me, there’s no distinction between English and British. We are the biggest nation in the world that plays this game and we want someone who can really move us on.”

The English Football Association have denied there is any substance to the rumours in the press that they have compiled a shortlist for the England manager’s job. With Sven Goran Eriksson leaving the post after the World Cup in Germany this summer it had been rumoured that a three man shortlist of Martin O’Neill, Stuart Pearce and Alan Curbishley had been drawn up by the FA with Guus Hiddink and Sam Allardyce also under consideration.

FA communications director Adrian Bevington has said: “No shortlist has been drawn up yet. Any speculation suggesting there is, is inaccurate.”

A three-man sub-group made up of FA chief executive Brian Barwick, international committee chairman Noel White and Premier League chairman Dave Richards - also international committee vice-chairman - will decide on the process of choosing the next England coach. They will then report to FA chairman Geoff Thompson, and back to the FA board on February 27.

So Sven has been persuaded by the suits the Football Association to throw in the towel after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, a full two years before the end of his contract. Following the News of the World’s recent sting operation on him and the fallout from his comments about certain senior England players, amongst other things, it was the inevitable conclusion although the timing will surely only further destabilise England’s preparations for the summer showpiece.

With the bookies making English managers such as Sam Allardyce, Alan Curbishley and Steve McLaren favourites to replace the Swede it is hardly a mouth watering prospect for fans as they have to see a successor chosen from the only available Englishmen occupying mid-to-lower Premiership sides.

It’s easy to speculate about the possible effect on the desire of the players to find that extra gear they will need to make serious progress in the World Cup with a departing Eriksson as manager but even on a short term contract there are a shortage of viable options if Sven was to find his position completely untenable and leave the job right away. Jose Mourinho is football’s hottest managerial prospect but he could hardly be looking at the England job as a step up (even part time) from his Fantasy Football manager’s job at Chelsea. Likewise Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson at Arsenal or Manchester United who have more than enough to concern them at their clubs without thinking about steering their adopted countries World Cup hopes as well.

From abroad the famous names of “Big Phil” Scolari and Guus Hiddink would be the main contenders while former England U21 boss Peter Taylor, now manager at Championship side Hull City, could also come into the frame alongside a more experienced number two such as Terry Venables.

Chances are that Sven will stick it out (so to speak) until the World Cup is over and England’s dreams lie in tatters around him as he picks up a golden handshake and packs his overloaded bags with riches before travelling onto his next destination with assistant Steve McLaren stepping into his shoes. Clean cut, English, cheaper wages and the possibility that Middlesbrough won’t be too sad to see him go if they continue their recent form and fall through the Premiership trapdoor this season.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

As I’ve commented on RoundandWhite, my problem (if I was an English football fan) would be less with what Sven has actually said to the undercover reporter and more with what the motives of the newpaper and journalist in question were. Leading up to a World Cup campaign the News of the World seems to be more interested in discrediting the manager and destabilising the England team’s chances of doing well in Germany this summer than in helping to create a situation whereby preparation is allowed to continue unhindered and then, after the finals when the inevitable disappointment of elimination happens, pursue their vendetta against Eriksson.

To do so a few months before the World Cup even starts is a disgraceful piece of treason against the English FA and it’s players and management and I’m sure the FA will be reserving some special treatment in future for the News of the World with regards access to their representatives.

As for the Swedish philanderer himself, I doubt too many would be shocked to hear that Rio Ferdinand is “lazy”, Michael Owen only went to Newcastle for the money and that Wayne Rooney’s temper problems are the result of his upbringing but nonetheless they are hardly inspiring words from a national manager about three of his top players in the run up to a World Cup.

Let’s not forget what happened to Roy Keane after his “motivational” outburst against his fellow Manchetser United players a couple of months ago. In the words of The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, “They?re still there, he?s all gone” which might make Sven get the feeling that almost all of his elusive nine lives have been used up as England manager. If the World Cup doesn’t come back to England with him this summer, maybe the News of the World will get their way after all.