Brooking lined up for caretaker role

Trevor Brooking insisted that former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios would be a hard full-time act to follow as moves were afoot for the ex-England international to replace him on a caretaker basis.

Palios resigned from his post on Sunday night as the first casualty of the controversy which has surrounded the FA since it was confirmed that both he and Sven-Goran Eriksson had affairs with secretary Faria Alam.