Eddie Howe is now the favourite to follow on from Gareth Southgate.

Southgate having resigned on Monday after defeat in the Euros, after eight years and 102 matches in charge.

Eddie Howe has predictably been one of the most talked about potential replacements.

However, Graham Potter and Lee Carsley had led the betting ahead of the Newcastle United boss.

All change now though, the bookies and punters now making Eddie Howe the new favourite for the England job.

These are now the best prices generally available on Wednesday morning across the various bookies as to who will be the next permanent England manager (in brackets what the odds were on Tuesday morning):

12/1 Mauricio Pochettino (8/1)

20/1 Thomas Tuchel (12/1)

20/1 Frank Lampard (20/1)

33/1 Pep Guardiola (20/1)

Newcastle United fans shouldn’t be panicking though, at least not in my opinion.

I think Eddie Howe has ended up favourite and punters backing him, for a few reasons.

Howe is clearly the best man for the job, something obvious to all. Certainly if we are talking about an English replacement. I can’t believe that the FA will go for somebody of another nationality, the Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson appointments having proven disastrous in the past.

When you look at then the leading/obvious English candidates, Eddie Howe becomes even more the only choice for the FA, if they could persuade him to take the job.

Graham Potter out of work these past 15 months after a shocker at Chelsea, whilst Lee Carsley’s pinnacle has been managing the England under 21s.

When the next Englishman in the betting is Frank Lampard, that absolutely sums up how limited the choice is!!!

I think the Darren Eales quotes yesterday have helped encourage punters to back Eddie Howe. When the Newcastle United CEO was asked about England and Eddie Howe, Eales stated that the club would absolutely fight to keep their Head Coach, if England (or anybody else) made an approach. So I think wishful thinking for punters, (mis)interpreting this as England are expected to make an approach for Eddie Howe, or indeed already have.

If Eddie Howe was in between jobs, then maybe he would seriously consider an approach from England.

However, there is absolutely no way he is abandoning the job he is in the middle of doing at Newcastle United.

Just because punters have some speculative bets on the obvious standout candidate doesn’t bother me, I still reckon it is between Carsley and Potter to replace Southgate.

England matches at the 2024 European Championships:

England 2 Slovakia 1 (AET)