Former Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello would welcome the challenge of coaching England.

Capello, sacked by Madrid despite leading the Spanish giants to the Primera Liga crown earlier this year, said prior to this morning's sacking of Steve McClaren, that the job interests him

McClaren was dismissed today after England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

While commentating during last night's qualifying game between Italy and the Faroe Islands for Italian TV channel Rai, Capello said: "Me to coach England? It would be a challenge, a beautiful test to overcome and I would have the right age."

The 61-year-old - who has also enjoyed successful spells at AC Milan, Juventus and Roma - was recently linked with a move to Tottenham, but Spurs appointed Spanish coach Juande Ramos instead.

Irishman Martin O'Neill's biggest dilemma when considering the England job will be the timing.

The Aston Villa manager would definitely have taken the post 18 months ago had it been offered to him when it became clear Sven Goran Eriksson was to step down after the 2006 World Cup.

O'Neill was interviewed for the role at a time when he was unattached to a club after taking a break from football to look after his ill wife Geraldine but instead the powers that be at the Football Association opted to appoint McClaren.

O'Neill, who played under the legendary Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, is expected to be top of the FA's list of candidates now that McClaren has been sacked following the failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

He would be an attractive proposition to Soho Square and not just for the managerial skills which have been honed for the past two decades at Grantham, Shepshed, Wycombe, Leicester, Celtic and now Villa.

Villa's billionaire owner Randy Lerner has already said he will not stand in O'Neill's way should FA chief executive Brian Barwick come knocking on his door for permission to speak to the 55-year-old.

O'Neill would be genuinely excited at the prospect of working with an England squad which he believes possesses plenty of talent despite the failure to clinch a place in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

For all the concerns over an influx of foreign players damaging the national side, O'Neill is confident there is enough cream at the top of the game to give him belief he could turn England into a formidable force.

There were unprecedented scenes at Villa Park to greet a new manager when he was mobbed by more than a thousand Villa fans when he arrived as David O'Leary's successor in August 2006.

Slowly but surely O'Neill is building the foundations of a squad he hopes to eventually bring back the glory days of the early 1980s when they won the league title and the European Cup.

He has some of the cream of that English talent at his own disposal in Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young and he has rejuvenated the career of Villa skipper Gareth Barry, who started last night's game.

Guus Hiddink could again come into the frame despite saying 'no' when asked 18 months ago by the FA although he has agreed a new deal with Russia who pipped England for a place in next summer's finals.

Another ex candidate in Luiz Felipe Scolari is bound to be somewhere near the FA's radar particularly as he is likely to quit as coach of Portugal after Euro 2008.

If Barwick et al are looking to appoint an Englishman, then former skipper Alan Shearer will have the qualities of passion, desire and commitment but no experience of managing at any level.

But it is O'Neill who is likely to be strongly courted in the coming weeks as England look to recover from the devastation of not being involved in their first major tournament since the 1994 World Cup in the United States.