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Wayne Rooney on new England boss: 'Of course it's better if he's English'

England captain Wayne Rooney has offered his preference for another homegrown manager to replace Roy Hodgson with the Three Lions.

Two of the country's last four permanent bosses have been imports -- Sweden's Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italy's Fabio Capello -- and Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn suggested on Tuesday nationality would be no barrier for the right candidate.

When asked for his opinion, Rooney, who earlier on Tuesday denied a rift with Hodgson, said: "Of course it's better if he's English, but he has to be the right man for the job.

"He has to have the credentials and the ability to be able to do the job. Whether he's English or not we'll wait and see.

"He needs to put his stamp on the team, whoever he is. I know one thing, if I was the manager coming in I'd be very excited. It's difficult to see now, but we do have a good squad, an exciting squad.

"Whoever comes in will have a tough job, but they have the players to move us on from where we are and take us one step further."

At his news conference on Tuesday, Hodgson said he would be proud to see an Englishman succeed him so long as he was the best candidate.

"I don't have a problem with it," he said when asked about the spectre of a foreign successor. "It would be very hypocritical of me to do so having been a national coach in Switzerland, Finland the UAE.

"I think I should be the last person to say it's got to be a national. It's got to be the best person.

"I think it would be nice if it was an Englishman. I have been proud as an Englishman to do the job and I have had a lot of support from the general public as an Englishman. But Martin will have to find the best person available."

Goalkeeper Joe Hart was less committal, insisting he had not yet considered the vacancy.

"I haven't even given it a thought, the next manager," he said. "I've been that involved in what we've been doing here.

"It's not an easy job anyway, the England job. We win and lose as a group and we've enjoyed working under Roy.

"Obviously none of us wanted these to be the circumstances in which he left his job. It's difficult.

"I'm sure whoever gets the job will deserve it but, living in the now, and trying to deal with what's gone on, we're going to have to deal with it as a group -- players and coaches, and deal with it as best we can."

Hart, whose starting spot is coming under question after two high-profile errors in France, has seen England falter on the big stage before and seemed bereft of solutions for the side's repeated under-achievement.

"It's tough to say because obviously I've been part of some pretty bad campaigns. We're going to have to switch it up, get better," said the Manchester City keeper. 

"It's difficult to come out and be positive, to say positive things, after what happened. Ultimately we failed and we're going to have to deal with it. The wounds are fresh, that's for definite."

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