Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is the heavyweight name being promoted inside and outside the FA as the preferred choice to be the next chairman of English football's ruling body.
Support for Leahy has grown since he announced he would step down as Tesco chief executive in March, which fits the FA timetable of appointing a permanent chairman after the 2018 World Cup vote in December.
Leahy would also suit the Government, who want a properly independent FA chairman rather than someone from inside the football family.
The FA are in the process of abolishing the statute requiring their leader to have been free of football ties for 12 months.
But Leahy, who first watched Everton in 1962, has plenty of football knowledge gained through his Goodison attachment as well as Tesco's FA sponsorship and his England 2018 advisory role.
The void at the top of the FA is all too clear and reluctant caretaker chairman Roger Burden announced during his speech before the Community Shield that it would be the last time he was heard at Wembley.
Beleaguered Club England and Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, under increasing pressure to step down from one of those roles, is speaking for the FA before tonight's England match.
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