Keegan will want Beardsley by his side

Kevin Keegan's first job as England coach will be to try and persuade long term friend and former team mate Peter Beardsley to join him at the summit of the English game.

Keegan, 48, has accepted the job of part-time successor to Glenn Hoddle and will maintain his links with Fulham until the end of his contract in June 2000. That will make the job of his deputy vital to the success of the experiment and Keegan has targeted the 38 year old former England midfielder as the man he wants to help him in this new position. Beardsley was alongside Keegan at Fulham as a player and before that was a team mate of the former Liverpool player's at Newcastle.

The midfielder currently plays for Hartlepool United in the English Third Division but the club would release Beardsley - who has long held coaching ambitions - if Keegan makes the expected approach. The English FA negotiated Keegan into the part-time job over the past three days and agreed to let him choose his own team to work with which means caretaker manager Howard Wilkinson reverting to his post of technical director.