Gareth Southgate is the only worthy candidate for the England manager's job and will be appointed at the end of the month, according to former Football Association executive Adrian Bevington.
Southgate, 46, will be interviewed by a five-man panel at FA headquarters St George's Park on Monday and Bevington, who spent five years as the FA's Club England managing director until 2015, feels he is the ideal man for the job.
Former Middlesbrough and England Under-21s coach Southgate will meet with FA representatives who will make a decision on whether to hand him a permanent deal as national team boss after four matches in interim charge.
"(The FA management) know Gareth as well as anybody and I don't think they will be speaking to anybody else," Bevington told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
"I believe that Gareth will be given the job from this group. There's a board meeting on November 30 of the main FA board and I think Gareth Southgate will be the manager by then."
The FA has been determined not to rush into naming Sam Allardyce's successor and has placed no time frame on when the appointment will be made.
But Bevington, who was involved in the appointment of Southgate as England Under-21s coach, said: "I think he is the only candidate because he's earned it, he should get it.
"He's the right man for the job. If you've worked around Gareth with the under-21s you've seen his interaction with the players is fantastic.
"If you talk to him privately you understand what his beliefs about football are. That's why Arsene Wenger is a great admirer of Southgate because his beliefs are first class."
England's cricket and rugby union teams are currently enjoying success under foreign coaches Trevor Bayliss and Eddie Jones respectively, but Bevington believes the FA has to appoint an Englishman.
"I've been directly involved with Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson and that unfortunately didn't result in success," Bevington said.
"More importantly than ever we need to be promoting English coaches and if the FA want to be seen as being serious about that, all the investment at St George's Park as well on the coaching, they have to have an English coach at this time."
Bevington feels Southgate has outstanding credentials to lead England through the World Cup qualifiers and beyond.
"Gareth's very experienced in international football. Fifty-odd caps for England, four major tournament finals and he'd worked with the FA with our development teams before becoming under-21s coach, so it was a natural, seamless progression.
"Gareth's a big student of the game, has great knowledge and is a bright and open-minded person with excellent communication skills and that's been proved with the under-21s, who he led to success at the Toulon tournament last summer.
"I just think he's suited to the rhythm of international football."
Bevington said it has been unfair of some sections of the media to label Southgate as a 'safe pair of hands'.
"He's a highly-experienced player and coach at international level," Bevington added.
"He's got more experience than any of the other 'candidates' that have been talked about who could be put forward for the job.
"He's the most suitable person out there at this moment in time and the last two months, particularly the performance against Spain, have enhanced that."
Source: PA
