Rio Ferdinand insists England's new manager must be English, and says it should be Spurs boss Harry Redknapp.
Fabio Capello left his post on Wednesday night to complete a tumultuous day on which Redknapp had earlier been cleared by a London court on all charges of tax evasion.
Ferdinand, who first came to prominence under Redknapp's tutelage while at West Ham, now says his former boss is the outstanding candidate to replace Capello.
He said on Twitter: "I think we need an English manager now, we don't need anything else lost in translation....Harry Redknapp would be my choice by a distance."
Ferdinand's Manchester United and England team-mate Wayne Rooney has also backed Redknapp.
He said on Twitter: "Gutted capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be english to replace him. Harry redknapp for me."
Jack Wilshere admitted his shock at Capello's resignation.
The Arsenal midfielder won his first cap under Capello against Hungary in August 2010.
He said on Twitter: "Shocked about news on Fabio Capello...gutted to be honest, gave me my 1st cap and believed in me! Thank you Mr Capello! #GreatManager."
Wilshere, who has not played this season because of injury, said Capello had had a "massive" impact on his career.
He tweeted: "People have there own judgement on Capello but for a young player who was given the chance to play for my country at such a young age...
"He has shown great belief and trust in me so I can only thank him....massive influence on my career so far! Sad to see him go!"
Like Wilshere, Tottenham defender Kyle Walker took to Twitter to express his disappointment at Capello's departure.
He posted: "Gutted to see Fabio Capello go he put a lot of trust in me and gave me my first cap just want to say a big thanks really.."
Former England manager Graham Taylor joined Ferdinand and Rooney in backing Redknapp, saying he is "made for the job".
Taylor, who succeeded Bobby Robson as England manager after the 1990 World Cup but failed to steer the team to a place in the 1994 tournament, claims 64-year-old Redknapp has the ideal qualities for the position, and is at the right stage in his career.
Taylor told BBC Radio Five Live: "What I'd say about Harry is his age. If I could change anything I just wish the offer of the England job had come towards the end of my career, not when I was in my mid-forties.
"I just think that taking the England job is far better when you're coming towards the end of your career than when you're a young man. I think Harry is in many respects made for the job.
"You only have the England players together for so long, they come from different clubs, and they organise and prepare at their clubs in different manners, so you've got all of these different things to sort out and Harry I think is capable of doing that. He has this very good relationship with players."
Taylor is struggling to see beyond Redknapp when it comes to likely candidates for the job.
"The public want him, the players want him, sections of the media want him, so that's how it looks at the moment," Taylor said.
Sam Allardyce says Redknapp is the "number one choice" to take over as England manager.
"It's obvious," said Allardyce. "He hasn't just been talked about now, he's been talked about since he started to be successful at Tottenham.
"It's not unusual that Harry is the number one choice in the country at the moment.
"He's taken Tottenham from the depths of the Premier League and moulded a team to challenge the top four.
"He broke the top-four hoodoo and looks like doing it again this season, it makes him the obvious choice."
Allardyce has never hidden his ambition to be England manager and was a candidate for the top job while in charge at Bolton in 2006 before the Football Association made their ill-fated decision to appoint Steve McClaren.
The 57-year-old is further down the pecking order this time around despite guiding West Ham to the top of the npower Championship.
And while Bolton said at the time they would allow Allardyce to speak to the FA, he has had no such conversation with the Upton Park hierarchy.
"My focus is West Ham, we are top of the league and want to clinch promotion so my thoughts are not on the England job," he added.
"Last time a decision was taken by the football club as a whole as well as me, in terms of me being allowed to make myself a candidate to be England manager.
"That is not the case at the moment."
FA head of elite development Gareth Southgate said: "After the weekend it was clear there was going to be some conflict.
"I suppose what will happen is things will come out in the next few weeks and months. When a manager is in place every player, when interviewed, will say 'he's the best I've played with' but when he goes all the knives will come out. I'm sure we'll see that on Twitter."
Asked if he believed there was sufficient time to get a replacement before the European Championships, Southgate added: "All possibilities remain open in that respect."
Speaking during a visit to Sweden, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I am sorry to see Fabio go. I think he was a good coach and a good man. I don't think he was right about the John Terry issue. You can't be captain with that question mark that needs to be answered.
"England now needs a new coach and a new captain and I hope we can get on with that and make the best of the opportunity this summer."
Asked if Redknapp should take over, he said: "The day when the Prime Minister picks the England coach will be a very bad day for football but I am sure we will find someone really good and I am sure that we will play well when the time comes."
Sir Keith Mills, a non-executive director at Tottenham, says the club will wait to see what develops regarding Redknapp and the England job.
"I think we're jumping the gun a little bit here," Mills said on BBC Radio Five Live.
"Whether Harry will be approached is not a foregone conclusion.
"If he is, then Harry has got a big decision to make."
Former England defender Danny Mills criticised the FA for their handling of the situation and claimed the Euro 2012 campaign will be compromised as a result.
"It think the FA have handled this very badly," he told Radio Five Live.
"He's obviously decided enough's enough and walked out. He's almost dropped England right in it.
"There's an awful lot of preparation that has gone in it (Euro 2012). It just causes disruption. There will be speculation that people don't need.
"Players will be asked about Capello, the new manager and about John Terry.
"He's justified in his decision. Do England need this leading into a major tournament?"
Mills was also sceptical about whether Redknapp, the favourite to take over the reins, would be able to juggle the England job with his duties at Spurs.
"I presume Harry Redknapp is the favourite, but he's got a job to do with Spurs until the end of the season," he said.
"The FA have handled this really badly.
"You have to find a man very quickly. Someone who wants the job.
"If it's going to be Harry Redknapp are Spurs going to allow it?
"The FA are almost going to be held to ransom. The Euros is going to be a trial for whoever takes charge."
Scotland boss Craig Levein was another to cast doubt on whether Redknapp would be able to do both jobs in the short term.
Levein said on BBC Radio 5 Live: "I think it's extremely difficult. I believe England have got a great opportunity in the summer going to the Euro finals.
"It might be very difficult for a manager to stay at his club and devote the time that's needed to do the England manager's job.
"I don't know what the FA will decide is best way forward."
Former FA chief executive David Davies claimed Redknapp would find the England job too tempting to turn down.
"Given the bizarre coincidence of the two events that came together today (Capello's resignation and Redknapp's acquittal) the odds have to be that Harry Redknapp will be the next manager of the England team," Davies said on Sky News.
"I think there are one or two other strong candidates, but there is a momentum now behind Harry Redknapp that the FA will find hard to resist.
"My instinct is that someone like Harry Redknapp ultimately will not want to turn down the job of England manager and my instinct is that Tottenham Hotspur ultimately will not want to stand in his way."
Former England captain Gary Lineker backed Redknapp, claiming he could manage both England and Spurs in the short term.
He tweeted: "As you ask I think new man should be English. Players have to be, so should boss. HR the man if he wants it. He can do both jobs til May."
QPR midfielder Joey Barton was typically forthright in his assessment of where Wednesday night's developments, which followed Terry being stripped of the captaincy, left the England team.
"Well, well, well, this debacle claims yet another victim. Where does this stop. #madness," he said on Twitter.
"No captain and no manager. 4 months from a major championship. What's going on......."
Former Wales manager Mark Hughes believes Redknapp would find it a "bit too much" to simultaneously juggle national and club jobs.
Hughes led Wales out against England and Poland after taking the Blackburn post in 2004 and warned it is a bit too much to ask of a manager.
"I used to change my opinion in that regard," the QPR manager said.
"Sometimes I felt it was possible to do both and then not. I did the role part-time and took charge of Wales for two games while a club manager, which I felt quite difficult.
"I think it would be a little bit unrealistic to be able to expect to do a high-level job and the national team. I think it is a little bit too much."
"The frustration of being a national team manager is that the players aren't yours," he said.
"They are with you for a short period of time and then immediately after games they go back to their clubs.
"Sometimes there is a frustration when you need to address things almost immediately after games and you haven't got that time frame to do that.
"There is a little bit of that frustration and sometimes you possibly have to negotiate with certain club managers to get your players available.
"It is not an easy job but if you get it right then certainly the England job is one of the best national jobs in world football.
"I am sure a lot of people will be putting their name in for the job, both English, British and foreign. We'll have to wait and see."
On who should be England's next manager, he added: "I am not particularly interested because I am Welsh, but I think it is clear to everybody that there is one candidate.
"It is clear in my mind and most other people's mind. I think they will go through the process and go through the possible charade of getting a shortlist and throwing a few names in the hat.
"But the bottom line is they will get the man they want in the end."
Hughes himself is available as low as 25/1 with the bookies to take the job, but he cooled any such speculation.
"I am that short am I? I don't think I will be getting a call, to be perfectly honest."
England legend Paul Gascoigne gave his backing to Redknapp as Capello's successor, but claimed former England boss Terry Venables should be offered the job if the Football Association could not get the Spurs manager.
The former Tottenham midfielder told Sky Sports News: "He's (Redknapp) a day-to-day manager, he loves going into work every day.
"I've spoken to him a couple of times when I've seen him in Bournemouth - great man, great manager and whatever he's done he's done fantastic.
"I think the obvious choice for everyone is Harry, but I don't think Tottenham are going to release Harry.
"He is a players' man. Everyone would want to play for him and he's proven that at the clubs he's been to.
"He's like Terry Venables and I would given him a shot again, truthfully, Terry Venables.
"If Harry didn't want it and Spurs weren't willing to let him go I would give that man Terry Venables a shot again, without a shadow of a doubt.
"That man is just an unbelievable manager and Harry is a similar type of bloke. He's one of those managers I would have loved to have played for. And if he was given the job in my mind he would do a fantastic job."
Gascoigne, the star of the 1990 World Cup, jokingly ruled himself out of contention.
"I've had to turn the job down myself because I've got a busy schedule at the moment," he added.
Paolo Di Canio feels Redknapp would have the backing of 90% of English football fans if he were to take over as manager of the national team.
For the Italian, Redknapp has all the hallmarks of a top quality international manager, and he believes the former Portsmouth and Southampton chief can reignite the flames of national pride in those chosen to wear the Three Lions.
Furthermore, Di Canio insisted he would be the popular choice up and down the country.
"I am sure he has the experience, the knowledge and also the support of 90% of the people in England because he is the one," he said.
"He can encourage and let them believe in what they do. Sometimes the players forget that, when you wear the Three Lions, that has to be heavy in your brain if you want to do something special.
"I don't know if all of them feel the cause when they sing at the beginning of the game. That is crucial to do something more.
"Redknapp can help in this way. To have an English staff in the dressing room, thinking about tactical and technical but also to say they must fight for 65 million people and they have to feel this shirt on your body, that makes a difference.
"You can imagine if you play with 120% desire not 90. So for this I am happy for Redknapp to go because he can help in this way.
"Everyone recognises that he is intelligent. I hope that those players don't think because he's English he's like an old, old brother that they can do what they want around.
"Redknapp is not this person, he's not the manager who gives you all the chance to do what you want.
"Redknapp is a fox, he is intelligent, he knows how to handle the situation."
Whoever takes over at the helm, Di Canio is desperate to see an Englishman given the top job.
"It is a new era, a new start. I hope, even if I am Italian, thinking about English football, that the next one will be an English manager," he said.
"The first time people saw football was in England over 125 years ago, and I can't imagine you don't have the chance to bring up an English manager.
"Probably there weren't in the past very many because we know they were connected too much with the players.
"This is the problem in England, there wasn't the discipline in the past. Now it's a new generation. Terry, (Frank) Lampard, Rio Ferdinand - they are more professional than the past."
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