FA chief Horne plays down Mourinho talk

Football Association chief executive Alex Horne has played down talk of a potential move to appoint Jose Mourinho as England manager, after revealing he would prefer to hire a British coach

The former Chelsea coach, who is now boss of Real Madrid, was pictured in London earlier this week on a house-hunting trip.
His presence sparked speculation the FA were ready to consider him over Harry Redknapp, as they look for a permanent successor to Fabio Capello, who quit following a row over the decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy.
But Horne made it clear that an Englishman, like Tottenham manager Redknapp, would be high on their short-list after the problems created by Capello's failure to communicate well with his players.
"They don't have to be English but clearly that would be very preferable," Horne told BBC radio.
"We all get that. We think British is credible. It's key we have someone with very strong English communication skills, ideally someone who's got experience of managing English players."
Last week, Horne said it might be the end of the season before an appointment was made but on Sunday he said that while Capello's successor would not be announced this month, he could be in place at any point after that.
Redknapp is understood to want to to complete his work with the north London club by securing a Champions League place for next season before discussing the England job—and the FA are mindful of doing anything that rocks the boat.
"We would intend to try and get someone in place permanently by the European Championships," said Horne.
"We are doing this professionally and courteously. A number of the managers on the list are currently working for clubs and we want to avoid disruption to anyone else's season.
"At some point between now and the back end of the season we will make our move.
"We think we can get the best manager for the job whilst having respect for the fact that, if they're currently employed, they've got to finish their season.
"When we do this we'll go and try to get one person and we think we can deliver that person quite quickly."
The FA have made it clear the new manager will be given the freedom to select whoever he wants, even if it means Redknapp sticking with older players at the expense of the young stars coming through.
But the decision to take the armband from Terry after allegations that he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during a match in October remains a non-negotiable part of the job, according to Horne.
"The FA board have made their view on John's captaincy clear so I think we'd make that very clear to the incoming manager," he said.
"While the charge is in place, the FA board's decision is that John should not be captain.
"I wouldn't expect an incoming manager to challenge that particularly hard if they want the job."
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