José Mourinho’s candidature for the England head coach’s job received a fillip yesterday when John Terry revealed that he would welcome his former club manager with open arms. The Chelsea captain has no fears that Mourinho would be an excellent choice, but doubts remain about the Portuguese’s eagerness to succeed Steve McClaren.

The Football Association is likely to put Mourinho on the spot sooner rather than later, with Brian Barwick, the governing body’s chief executive, ready to move on to the next stage of the headhunting process. The consultation stage will be concluded in the next couple of days and it is possible, depending on the FA’s final choice, that a new manager could be installed by Christmas.

Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi, Jürgen Klinsmann and, possibly, Martin O’Neill are heavyweight names in the frame, but Barwick is unlikely to plump for one of them without making sense of the contradictory signals about Mourinho’s intentions.

Many who have worked with him believe that he is waiting for a big club job, but if the FA was to make an approach, Terry gave his endorsement yesterday, rubbishing suggestions that there was any ill-feeling between him and Mourinho. Captain and manager did clash in the 24 hours before the latter was ousted at Stamford Bridge, but that had nothing to do with the Portuguese’s abrupt departure.

Terry said that he had been in contact with Mourinho only last week, with texts exchanged between the pair, and that they had also spoken on the phone recently, although not about the England job. “I would happily work for José tomorrow,” Terry said. “There is no problem at all between me and him. We said we had an argument that night, but it certainly had nothing to do with the decision to part company. That is why what was said was hurtful at the time.

“If ever he had a problem, he would come to me as a man and we would thrash it out. And as captain, I have had many run-ins with Mourinho or other managers. There is no point in holding back if you’ve got something to say, but then you’ve got to be man enough to walk out on to the training pitch and get on with your job.

“He texted me just the other day. ‘Are you well?’ ‘How are the family?’ ‘How are all the lads?’ If he walked in through the door tomorrow, I’d shake him warmly by the hand.”

Terry declined to discuss whether Barwick asked him about Mourinho when the pair met last week. The captain would say only that the governing body needed “to get the right man whether that takes weeks or months”. Barwick is hoping that will be weeks. He has cleared his diary and it helps that most of the leading candidates are out of work.

Inevitably, there are complications. Capello speaks poor English and Lippi worse, while Klinsmann and Mourinho may have issues if the FA tries to interfere with the make-up of the back-room staff. O’Neill will not be easily parted from Aston Villa now that he has told Randy Lerner, the club’s owner, that he intends to stay, although Barwick may decide to make him a tempting offer.

“José is the one that really stands out for me and could make a big difference,” Terry said. “He’s a great guy, tactically he is very aware and he understands the game very well.”

But Terry also raised the fact that Mourinho “enjoys the day-in, day-out stuff with a club side, so maybe it would not suit him. It is down to the FA to contact him if they want to.” That process is about to start.

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