Fabio Capello could yet stay as England manager following next year's European Championships even though his contract is due to expire after the tournament.

Trevor Brooking, the English Football Association's director of football development, raised the prospect of the Italian extending his £6 million a year deal if things go well for England in Poland and the Ukraine at Euro 2012 in an interview on Thursday.

"Let's worry about that when it happens," Brooking told BBC Radio Five Live.

"Fabio's contract ends in the summer and the mindset is for change but you never say never," former West Ham and England midfielder Brooking added.

"It would be a nice problem, and one we have not had for 40 years (England's lone major international success was when they won the 1966 World Cup on home soil and four years later manager Sir Alf Ramsey was retained after the team reached the quarter-finals in Mexico).

"We are certainly hoping to do better this summer than we did in South Africa (at the 2010 World Cup where England lost 4-1 in the last 16 to Germany)."

England would like to appoint a homegrown manager to succeed Capello but with leading candidate Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, set to be embroiled in a tax case that has the potential to rule him out of contention, there are not many other suitably qualified English candidates.

"If we could get someone home grown it would send out right message," said Brooking. "It would launch a new era and we do want a system where we have an English coach.

"But we don't want to lock it in. How many candidates are there?

"I am sure Harry Redknapp would be high in the betting but we will look at it on merit at time.

"When it comes to the end of the season it will be clearer."