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After England's ignominious performance in this summer's 2016 European Championships, manager Roy Hodgson stepped down and two potential replacements have been interviewed for the vacant role “ Sunderland's Sam Allardyce and Hull City's Steve Bruce “ two managers with vast experience under their belts but little in the way of major honours.

Considering the innovative tacticians they'll come up against, why the English Football Association think Allardyce and Bruce are the two best candidates to consider bemuses many.

So why are the Englishmen in the frame for the job? The answer is simple; the FA don't have a better plan to take the national team forward without breaking their rule on accepting any nationality.

The infamous homegrown ruling, introduced in 2009, was meant to herald a new generation of English talent, but that has amounted to failure, so once again, the focus is on the manager. Considering the pool of talent available to England, a coach worth their salt should be able to turn their fortunes around, but the national team are at their lowest ebb currently.

In the last three major international tournaments, under Roy Hodgson, England picked up just three wins from 12 games for their troubles. As a result, his departure was expected, but the names mentioned as replacements give little in the way of confidence of a revival.

For six years the side have been underachieving even by the low standards already set, and the national team appear to be going backwards, not even standing still - highlighted by neighbours Wales outperforming them with a semi-final place, despite a vastly smaller pool of talent to work with.

England used to be a side who would have Europe's top coaches desperate to manage. A job that was one of the most coveted when a vacancy arose. But this summer, England U21 manager Gareth Southgate, reportedly,albeitincredibly turned the role down, which would have been the biggest job of his career, because he knows how much of a state the side are currently in.

Foreign managers aren't staking a claim to take charge of England anymore either, and the two men leading the chasehardly haveCVs to dazzle with in the interview process. Allardyce won the League of Ireland title in 1992 and the third division crown in 1998.

Since then he's won the playoffs twice in the second tier. Bruce has earned promotion from the second tier four times in management, while making an FA Cup final. At a time where England supporters are losing faith in the national team, the FA are making a rod for their own backs.

They've convinced themselves that the manager of the national team has to be English, but have yet toadopt a philosophy from the likes of France, Germany and Spain in the last decade to no avail.

Portugal won Euro 2016 by coming into the tournament with a game plan that was tried and tested, whereas England changed their outlook every game and it led to players not knowing their roles on the pitch. The Three Lions played a system which involved wingers, but named just one natural in the position in their squad.

For Allardyce and Bruce to be the front-runners with the bookmakers for the next England job suggests a real dearth in top quality English coaches, something the pair have both agreed on in the past.

It doesn't take a well-funded football association full of 'forward-thinking' individuals to pluck the two names out of a hat, considering how few Englishmenare managing in the top-flight “ Allardyce, Bruce, Alan Pardew (Crystal Palace), Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) and Sean Dyche (Burnley).

However, it only serves to highlight how far the national team have fallen when England's best hope lies on two managers who have endured more sackings than trophies won.

Are the England national team dying a slow death?