Gareth Southgate has become a "much stronger" candidate for the England manager's job, according to Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn after overseeing a four-game unbeaten run in interim charge.
Southgate, who was promoted from his role as England Under-21 manager following Sam Allardyce's sudden exit from the senior team in September, is expected to be confirmed as the man to lead England to the 2018 World Cup within the next week, despite seeing Spain score two late goals to claim a 2-2 draw at Wembley on Tuesday.
Although Glenn has insisted on the FA going through the procedure of forming a five-man committee to assess the only serious candidate for the job, he admits that Southgate has won admirers with his impact in temporary charge.
"I won't be drawn on leading candidates, but Gareth is a really strong candidate and clearly after the last four games his candidacy has become much stronger," Glenn said. "Not just based on one or two matches, but because of what we've seen over the last couple of years.
"He's got renewed confidence and is a different manager to what he was two years ago. So it is not all about assessing him on a few games, you have got to see it more in the round.
"We said all along that Gareth, if he wanted the job, is clearly going to be considered as a strong candidate.
"We know him and we've seen him at close quarters for a couple of years so it helps that he understands how international football works. What we said however is that we need to take stock after the four games.
"There is quite a long gap between now and the next England game in March, so we've got time.
"We will ask Gareth to review in detail the last four games and give him a bit of time to do that because that is part of the process."
Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England defender who was coach under Roy Hodgson between Euro 2012 and Euro 2016, has questioned the merits of the FA selection panel, claiming that it is merely a "box-ticking exercise."
Glenn, who confessed that he was not a "football expert" following Hodgson's departure in the summer, is battling to convince many within the game of his ability to steer the FA in the right direction in his role as chief executive.
But the former marketing executive insists it is the right decision to debate the selection of Allardyce's successor before confirming his identity.
"We've had a group in place since October, including Howard Wilkinson and Graeme Le Saux, so we have people that have been involved in football at the highest level," Glenn said. "It will be a fact-based decision.
"We will take a bit of time to reflect, but hopefully not too long.
"It's important that we build the right platform for success in the future. We just need to weigh up all the facts and take the time to make the right decision."