West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson insists he will remain strictly “neutral” as speculation rages about his prospects of becoming England manager.

The West Brom boss instead dropped his biggest hint so far that he will be happy to stay at The Hawthorns if he and chairman Jeremy Peace can reach an agreement on the way forward.

The prospect of landing English football’s top job is the biggest threat to Hodgson continuing his Hawthorns tenure, which sees Albion poised to usurp Villa as the region’s leading top-flight club.

The head coach confirmed the club had received the Premier League letter asking managers not to discuss candidates to replace Fabio Capello.

But he skipped cleverly around all efforts to pin him down on his own ambitions for the post – although he did urge the FA to make their decision on a coach’s body of work as opposed to vogue candidates of the moment.

“I think we are in a business when the person who happens to be in the ascendancy in a brief moment in time is going to be the name on everyone’s lips,” said Hodgson.

“That certainly wasn’t the case for me during long periods of this year. Now we’ve had a couple of good results maybe my name is being thought of a little bit more highly.

“If we are talking about top quality jobs in English football, it will be a case for people to research the profile and the type of person they want to do the job.

“That should go beyond whether you have won or lost the last few games.”

Hodgson admitted that he was perfectly content with life at The Hawthorns but, with contract talks due in the summer, would want Peace to assure him the stresses and strains of survival struggles would be left behind before he signed a new deal.

He said: “I’m relaxed about the situation. I’m ambitious to continue my career beyond 65 in the Premier League. I’m realistic about the ambitions a club like ours might have. But I want to see us looking upwards rather than looking to keep on an even keel.

“I’m not desperate to get somewhere to win trophies.

“I want to sit down and etch out what we need for the future to make sure the life we are enjoying today can continue.

“I don’t want to stay on and fight relegation battles every year.”