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Three Lions could be heading South

ROY HODGSON announced his resignation as England manager less than an hour after the Three Lions crashed 2-1 to Iceland on Monday night and events continued to move fast yesterday with under-21s manager Gareth Southgate emerging as the clear favourite to fill the vacancy.

Hills had responded to the England defeat by immediately offering 1-20 that Hodgson would take change for the next game and 7-1 that he wouldn’t.

However, Hodgson opted for a swift exit after a performance widely described as one of the worst ever produced by an England team and Southgate quickly moved in pole position to replace him – shortening from initial quotes of 8-1 to a best-priced 7-4 yesterday.

Being already a part of the FA system, Southgate would be seen as the continuity candidate but plenty of fans will be calling for change.

Glenn Hoddle – who commentated on the game in his role as an ITV pundit – has shortened from 25-1 to 8-1 to become national team boss for a second time, while Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and Crystal Palace gaffer Alan Pardew are both 12-1 chances.

There seems a reluctance to consider non-English contenders since the failed tenure of Fabio Capello, although FA chief executive Martin Glenn yesterday said that they will go for “the best person, not necessarily the best Englishman”.

Guus Hiddink, Jurgen Klinsmann and Brendan Rodgers are all 25-1 shots, while Arsene Wenger is 33-1.

England’s players are also coming under massive scrutiny and Joe Hart’s position between the posts may be under threat after he failed to keep out Iceland’s second goal.

However, Hills go 1-3 that the Manchester City stopper plays in England’s next competitive fixture and 9-4 that he doesn’t.

Hills estimate that industry-wide turnover on Euro 2016 will be £60m lower because of England’s elimination, but they had a profitable night after 82 per cent of the bets struck were on an England win.

France could be huge beneficiaries of England’s failure because they are red hot 2-5 favourites to beat Iceland in Sunday’s quarter-final in Paris.

The hosts have shortened from 9-2 to 3-1 to lift the trophy and are joint favourites alongside Germany.

Belgium – viewed as the strongest team in the soft side of the draw – are 4-1 third favourites while Italy shortened from 18-1 to 7-1 after their 2-0 success over Spain.

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