The coach has suggested that failure to win this summer's tournament in Germany will end his eight-year spell in charge and Bullingham has revealed that contingency plans exist if the manager departs.

The FA boss said: "I’ve seen some things about have we got a plan, or haven’t we.

"Any organisation really has a succession plan in place for their top employees, and we are no different to that.

"That’s really all I want to say on that topic. Just because I want to respect Gareth and the team. They are very focused on the tournament, and we want to be supporting them with that focus. Clearly, you plan lots of different scenarios for all your top employees all the time."

Bullingham admits that the FA have not set a specific target for Southgate to meet at the Euros due to the volatile nature of tournament football.

He said: "I know why people would love for there to always be a really arbitrary level. But I don't think you can set one for any tournament with any manager that you judge, because you could go further but be playing poorly, or have a really unlucky result where you get a couple of red cards.

"So I think setting an arbitrary figure isn't the right way to go. I think we step back and look at everything after the tournament, see how he feels, see how we feel and see how the tournament has gone."