Every Sam, Bruce and Harry have put their name forward for the England job following the news that current manager Fabio Capello will step down in after Euro 2012, or before if the nation fails to qualify.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce and Sunderland gaffer Steve Bruce have all be contacted by Fleet Street's finest and all have wasted little time in throwing their hats in the ring.

In The Independent Robin Scott-Elliot casts his eye over the early contenders:

It is little more than a day since Fabio Capello confirmed he would step down as England manager after the European Championship finals in two years' time and already the declarations of interest are springing up from all corners of the land. The race for the most coveted job in English football/ the most poisonous chalice in the game (Harry Redknapp saw it both ways yesterday) has begun.

With the Football Association suggesting that the next man in charge of the national side will be English, the shortlist is likely to be just that. Redknapp is the strong early favourite according to bookmakers and yesterday the Tottenham manager said he could not imagine refusing the job. He described it as the "pinnacle of any English manager's career". But Redknapp also believes that come 2012 he will be too old for the role. Capello will be 66, and a self-labelled "pensioner", when he heads home to Italy – Redknapp will be 65 in 2012.

The others to show an interest in the job yesterday were the 55-year-old Sam Allardyce and Steve Bruce, the baby of the pacesetters at 49.

However, Allardyce thinks that Roy Hodgson is the favourite to take the job and isn't very happy about it either. Big Sam thinks the new Liverpool manager has already been anointed as the only man capable of succeeding Capello simply on the basis of a "good season with Fulham".

As Matt Lawton explains in the Daily Telegraph:

With Capello serving notice of his intention to vacate the post of England manager following Euro 2012 and the Football Association already intimating a determination to recruit an Englishman to succeed the Italian, the starting gun has seemingly been fired on the race to find a home-grown manager to take charge of the national team.

But with only one Englishman – Tottenham's Harry Redknapp – guiding his club to a top-10 finish in the Premier League last season, the field of candidates already appears low on trophy-winning credentials.

With the likes of Stuart Pearce, Gareth Southgate, Paul Ince and Alan Shearer all failing to replicate their playing success as managers, seasoned campaigners such as Blackburn manager Allardyce, Sunderland's Steve Bruce, Redknapp and Hodgson appear to be the only options open to the FA.

And Allardyce, who was interviewed for the England job in 2006 before losing out to Steve McClaren, alluded to a lack of faith in the FA's recruitment process, by claiming that Hodgson's success in guiding Fulham to last season's Europa League final has placed him at the top of a one-man shortlist.

Allardyce said: "It wasn't long ago that Roy Hodgson was put up for the England job when he was manager here at Blackburn. But he lost his job here, went back to manage on the continent and he's never mentioned again until he comes back and has a good season with Fulham. Now we say he's the only candidate."