Fabio Capello, the England manager, has given his backing to a friendly against Scotland at Wembley in the spring and the fixture is likely to be ratified at an FA board meeting today.

The date has yet to be finalised, but a home fixture will take place in the last week of May, with the Friday — May 30 — pencilled in after the success of a similarly scheduled match against Brazil last season. It will be the first time the nations have met since England knocked Scotland out of the Euro 2000 play-offs under Kevin Keegan in November 1999 and the first non-competitive fixture between the teams since the collapse of the Home International tournament in 1989.

For the past 19 years EnglandScotland matches have taken place only if necessary — there was another meeting at Wembley during Euro ’96 — because of the potentially volatile nature of the fixture, but talks have been continuing between the FA and the SFA since England failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

With Scotland also failing to qualify — the first time that neither country has made it to the final stages of a leading tournament since 1994 — it provided a perfect opportunity to renew hostilities. Scotland officials have long wanted the match to become an annual event again.

Senior figures in the English and Scottish FAs shared a plane journey to South Africa for the World Cup draw in November, when Gordon Smith, the SFA chief executive, attempted to persuade Brian Barwick, his opposite number, that it was time to revive the historic fixture.

England had no manager at the time and were reluctant to make a firm commitment without first checking with Steve McClaren’s successor, but summer fixtures were high on the agenda from the moment Capello began work this month and the new manager has given the proposal the thumbs-up. He will also seek an away match for the first week in June, with a plan to release his players no later than June 3. The identity of the second opponent is under discussion.

England and Scotland first met in 1872 and have played 110 times, but it was believed that Capello might shy away from reviving the fixture in the belief that a match against British-style opponents would not be good preparation for England’s World Cup qualifying group, which includes four opponents from Eastern Europe.

It was also felt that Capello could be made a hostage to fortune by such a meeting, with England enjoying little credit for a victory but massive humiliation if defeated. Capello clearly does not think in such a negative manner. Certainly the FA’s marketing department will be pleased, with the match guaranteed to sell out.

Capello’s managerial adversary on the night will probably be George Burley, after the nomination of the Southampton manager was ratified by the board of the SFA yesterday. Burley was the surprise choice to succeed Alex McLeish, ahead of Mark McGhee, the Motherwell manager, Tommy Burns, the Celtic coach, and Graeme Souness, the former Scotland midfield player. His nomination was welcomed by Craig Brown, the former Scotland manager. “He is an excellent man-manager and a first-class coach,” Brown said. “He gets the best out of ordinary players.”

Burley’s agent, Athole Still, said that negotiations with the SFA were progressing smoothly and expected an announcement soon. A compensation package — thought to be in the region of £300,000 — was agreed with Southampton yesterday and the club will now begin their search for an eighth manager in as many years.

Glenn Hoddle, the former Southampton manager who left Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2006, will come into consideration and other candidates could include Kevin Blackwell, who produced an impressive team for Luton Town on a tight budget before falling out with the club’s administrator. Billy Davies, whose Derby County team eliminated Southampton from last season’s play-offs, has declared that he is interested, while Alan Shearer, Southampton’s former striker, ran Hoddle close in a local newspaper poll of supporters.

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