Southampton, Norwich City, Hull City and Queens Park Rangers appear to be closing in on new managerial appointments in a Championship close-season merry go round.
There are a host of vacancies at the moment at Stoke City's league rivals while more could follow, most notably at Sheffield Wednesday, where Danny Rohl's position remains very much open to speculation, and Leicester City. Watford have already replaced Tom Cleverley with Paulo Pezzolano.
Will Still and Cleverley are the bookies' favourites to take over at relegated Southampton. Still is leaving RC Lens after guiding the club to eighth place in Ligue 1 this season, having made his name guiding unfancied Stade Reims to decent league positions. The Belgium-born Englishman, aged 32, is believed to be returning to England for personal reasons.
Cleverley is said to have made "a good impression" during interviews while previous leading candidate Rohl looks like he is positioning himself for a job in the Bundesliga or even Premier League.
The Daily Echo reports: "Saints would like to give fans their new direction by the end of the week and could even host their new manager in the stands at St Mary's on Sunday. Saints host Arsenal in their final Premier League match and hope to have their prospective new boss watching on from the padded seats.
"The appointment of Still is by no means done and nor is it certain to happen, but, as reported, the young boss is now a leading contender."
Pep Lijnders, Jurgen Klopp's former assistant at Liverpool, is "a strong candidate" to take over from Johannes Hoff Thorup at Norwich.
Gary O’Neil and Bristol City's Liam Manning have also been linked but Lijnders is set for further talks with the Carrow Road hierarchy, having been in charge at Red Bull Salzburg from last summer but getting the boot in mid-December.
"(Sporting director, Ben) Knapper reiterated after Thorup’s exit the strategy remains unchanged to deliver Premier League football," reports the Pink Un.
Thorup, meanwhile, is reportedly in advanced talks to replace Marti Cifuentes at QPR. Tipsbladet report that the 36-year-old has travelled to London for an interview.
Hull have apparently interviewed former Sunderland and Rangers manager Michael Beale for their job, having swung the axe on Ruben Selles last week. He was last in work as Steven Gerrard's assistant at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
HullLive report: "The 44-year-old was spoken to on Monday and is thought to have impressed, but owner Acun Ilicali is not believed to be at the stage of offering him the job vacated by Selles and is still assessing potential options.
"City still have a shortlist of potential candidates and Beale's interview was part of the process of sounding out those the club believe could take over at the MKM Stadium."
Reports of interest in Plymouth Argyle's Miron Muslic have been all-but dismissed while it seems that plans to bring in Emre Belozoglu have been shelved after an uneasy reaction from supporters.
Rohl is being linked with Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig, as well as being in the conversation about potential openings at Leicester, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
The Sheffield Star reports: "As things stand, Röhl remains contracted to Sheffield Wednesday and remains their manager. Compensation terms stood in the way of the 36-year-old’s exit to Southampton in December and any interested club is likely to be asked to pay whatever sum Wednesday are entitled to.
"One fresh name thrown onto the growing list of reported suitors for Röhl is that of Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg. The German giants parted company with Ralph Hasenhüttl - who Röhl assisted in a short stint at Southampton - earlier this month and have now been credited with admiration for Wednesday’s manager in the Daily Mail."
It is a month, now, since West Brom fired Tony Mowbray and there has been talk of Cifuentes as well as Ryan Mason and Eric Ramsey, John Mousinho, Selles and Russell Martin. James Morrison, who was in caretaker charge at the end of term, is the bookies' second favourite.
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