Pearce start selecting squad for Euro 2012 championships

It appears that the caretaker manager — appointed after Fabio Capello quit his post in February — has been given the mandate from the Football Association to consider which players should be selected. Pearce, the under-21 coach and also the coach of the GB Olympic football team, could take England to the tournament in Poland and Ukraine before a permanent appointment has been made or before the next manager is able to take up the role. It may be that Pearce is simply carrying out his duties as caretaker by proceeding with England’s preparations — he has already made alterations to Capello’s plans for a pre-tournament training camp in Spain — but it seems his influence has grown, and been allowed to grow, beyond that. Already every player who has been selected in a provisional squad — often more than 30 players per squad — over the past 18 months has received a letter notifying them that they might be in the final 23-man selection for the tournament with England drawn against France, Ukraine and Sweden. The players have been told to prepare themselves for selection — not to book any holidays for example — with only those who have been in the provisional squads notified. No new players have been included while players such as goalkeepers Ben Foster and Paul Robinson and defender Luke Young — who ruled themselves out of being selected by Capello — have not received letters. Their only chance of inclusion is if they approach the FA to say they have changed their minds. Pearce, who was one of Capello’s assistants and who took charge of the recent friendly against Holland, which was thought to be his only game as head coach, has been talking to all the Premier League managers individually about the form and fitness of their England players as he assesses who should be in an enlarged provisional squad. In his capacity as team GB coach and also for the under-21s, the 49 year-old has also stepped up the number of games he has attended, scouting players around the country. Pearce was at Chelsea’s home match against Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday — when he assessed the form of the likes of Scott Parker, who he selected as his captain against the Dutch, former captain John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole. Pearce is expected to be at Spurs’ home match against Swansea City on Sunday and is then due to be at Blackburn’s fixture at home to Manchester United on Monday evening. During his discussions with the managers, Pearce will also have to weigh up such considerations to whether he feels he can, for example, take Terry and Rio Ferdinand to the tournament given the forthcoming trial over Terry’s alleged racial abuse of Ferdinand’s brother, Anton. The FA is adamant that it will not appoint a new England manager until, according to general secretary Alex Horne, the “back end of the season”. In a recent interview, Horne added that there was “definitely” a shortlist of candidates and not just one name under consideration. He is part of a four-strong committee — along with FA chairman David Bernstein, Club England managing director Adrian Bevington and the FA’s director of football Sir Trevor Brooking — who are making the decision and the FA has continued to stress it has not, as yet, made any approaches to potential managers. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has been regarded as the outstanding candidate but it’s understood that neither he nor his club have been approached about the vacancy. It’s also understood that Redknapp would like to take the post and would also like the chance to take England to the Euros. It’s thought that approaches will be made after the end of the domestic league campaign in England on May 13. After the 3-2 friendly defeat to the Dutch, Pearce said he would be happy to take control of England for Euro 2012 but did not believe he was a long-term option. It now appears that the FA is giving active consideration to this possibility, at least as a contingency plan should they be unable to secure their appointment in time. Pearce is preparing for two pre-tournament friendlies away to Norway on May 26 and at home to Belgium on June 2. England will also still go to a training camp in Spain but Pearce has changed Capello’s plans which were based around being in Marbella.