Former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan is Championship club Birmingham City's top target to take over from the sacked Lee Clark, sources told ESPN FC.
Phelan, who has been out of work since leaving Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, is the preferred choice of the Birmingham board.
Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett, who is a former Birmingham player, ranks second on their shortlist after masterminding their promotion push in League Two.
Phelan, 52, spent 14 years on United's backroom staff, rising to the position as Ferguson's second-in-command after Carlos Queiroz left in 2008.
He has never been a manager in his own right, though he has been linked with jobs at Burnley, Wigan, West Brom and Middlesbrough in the past.
Ferguson revealed in new chapters of his autobiography that he tried to persuade David Moyes to keep Phelan at United after his own departure.
He wrote: "Maybe David felt that at such a massive club he had to be sure that all corners were covered in terms of his support system.
"I felt that network was already there, with plenty of great people already in important slots."
Another of Ferguson's coaching team, Rene Meulensteen, also left Old Trafford in 2013 and had a brief and unsuccessful spell in charge of Fulham last season.
Former Huddersfield manager Clark was sacked on Oct. 20, leaving Birmingham 21st in the Championship. They have only won two of their last 19 games and first-team coach Richard Beale and chief scout Malcolm Crosby are in temporary charge.
Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League in 2011, when they also won the League Cup, and only avoided demotion to League One with an injury-time goal on the final day of the 2013-14 season.