Negotiations between the English Football Association and Fabio Capello will continue today after a debate among the FA board members delayed the expected confirmation of the Italian as Steve McClaren's successor.
Capello is expected to be confirmed as England's second foreign coach later today, but only after the conclusion of negotiations over the terms of the Italian's contract and that of his backroom staff that have spilled over into a third day.
After two meetings of the FA board, both convened by conference call at 12.30pm and 5pm, Capello's appointment was approved by the board subject to the satisfactory conclusion of contract negotiations.
FA sources insist there is no sticking point in the negotiations and it is anticipated a deal will be sealed today, with Capello receiving €9 million a year on a deal that will initially run to the 2010 World Cup.
"The board has approved his appointment as manager subject to further negotiations," the FA said in a statement. "These will continue, but there are no problems and we're going through the process for a successful conclusion."
There was significant disquiet expressed during the two conference calls with the board, however, with the all-Italian make-up of Capello's backroom staff and the exact role of Franco Baldini, his proposed right-hand man, exercising some board members.
Capello is expected to appoint three key coaching staff in Franco Tancredi (goalkeeping coach), the assistant Italo Galbiati and the fitness trainer Massimo Neri alongside Baldini.
Baldini was a midfielder at a host of minor clubs, including Bari and Bologna, before becoming director of football at Roma in 1999. With Capello he helped bring Walter Samuel, Gabriel Batistuta and Emerson to the club. Baldini resigned in March 2005 and joined Capello as sporting director in Madrid a year later.
Some members of the board expressed reservations that Baldini's role might clash with that of the FA's director of football development, Trevor Brooking, but an FA source denied last night that Baldini's role was an issue: "When Fabio is appointed Baldini will be his right-hand man, and there is no way that will clash with Sir Trevor's role in football development."
Baldini's situation is complicated by the fact he is on a short-list to become technical director at West Ham, but yesterday he also insisted that his role would not imperil Capello's appointment.
"I understand the FA has in principle said yes to me doing this job," he said. "If I do not, I think Capello will still be England coach, but maybe he will be a little less comfortable."
FA chief executive Brian Barwick was given a mandate to nominate a managerial candidate to the board, which would then scrutinise the process and approve the deal. But the executive's understandable haste to seal Capello's appointment left some senior board figures feeling that a deal had been done too quickly.
With a board meeting scheduled for next Thursday, some board members would have preferred scrutiny of the appointments process and the contract, the most expensive the FA has ever approved for an employee, to have been done at a formal meeting with all members present.
Instead, the board was consulted by phone, with some members, including the Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney playing no part. Mawhinney spent the morning chairing a Football League clubs meeting and then flew to Belfast to fulfil a prior commitment.
FA chairman Geoff Thompson, meanwhile, is in Tokyo on Fifa duty for the World Club championship.
For all the disquiet expressed yesterday there was sufficient support among the board members for the deal to be approved, with no one voting against a motion to approve Capello's appointment, and Barwick can count on the whole-hearted support of several board members who feel the move is a positive step.
The exact nature of Capello's role is sure to be debated in the coming days, however, with the identity and role of the promised English presence in the team at the heart of discussions.
As under-21 manager, Stuart Pearce is expected to play a role, but it is as yet unclear what Capello would demand of him. The wider question of the development of coaches and young players also remains in the air.