Gary Megson's successor at Bolton Wanderers will almost certainly be required to accept one of the Premier League's lowest salaries but there is unlikely to be a shortage of applicants for the post.
Megson, who has been widely reported as earning £700,000 a year at the Reebok Stadium, paid the price for securing only eight Premier League wins in 12 months when he was sacked after an emergency meeting between Bolton's owner, Eddie Davies, and the chairman, Phil Gartside, following last night's 2-2 home draw against Hull City.
If the remuneration on offer could act as a disincentive to the bookmakers' favourite Mark Hughes – who is understood to be still finalising his compensation deal with Manchester City and, who, in any case may well wait for a bigger club to come calling – Paul Jewell, Peter Reid, Darren Ferguson and Alan Shearer emerged as early contenders.
Jewell, the currently unemployed former Wigan and Derby manager, was a spectator at the Reebok on Tuesday night but Reid, the former Manchester City, Sunderland, Leeds and Thailand manager, whose main home remains in Bolton, would be a more popular choice with fans. Now the assistant manager at Stoke, Reid was one of the best midfielders to have worn a Bolton shirt in recent decades. He, like Jewell, is understood to be interested in a vacancy which will be temporarily filled by caretakers Chris Evans and Steve Wigley.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is available having been sacked by Peterborough, who he previously led to two promotions, earlier this season. The son of Manchester United's manager is invariably linked with every job going but his lack of Premier League experience could count against him with Davies and Gartside and he is thought more likely to end up at the Championship club Preston.
After accepting he will not be returning to Newcastle United Shearer has announced an enthusiasm for taking on another club but his record of one win in eight Premier League games at St James' Park might work against him.
Other candidates include the similarly unattached Gareth Southgate, Alan Curbishley and Steve Coppell although whether the latter pair, and Coppell in particular, would be prepared to move north is a moot point. On paper, though, Curbishley boasts precisely the right sort of qualifications to steer one of the Premier League's smallest, lowest budget, squads clear of the relegation zone, after his years with Charlton.
Now 18th with 18 points, Bolton have gone six games without a win as Megson proved unable to respond to a private call for "urgent improvement" from Gartside in early December.
With Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, and a former Bolton player, quick to rule himself out of the running, it is not inconceivable that Gartside may consider making a short term appointment until the summer – an option which he could use to try somehow to persuade Hughes to perform a brief fire-fighting job. Bolton's chairman is said to be a "big admirer" of the Welshman.
Whatever his identity, Megson's successor can be confident of, initially at least, proving considerably more popular with Bolton's fans than the man somewhat sarcastically known as "the Ginger Mourinho".
Although the 50-year-old's two seasons in charge featured an escape from relegation, a mid-table finish and a first home victory over Manchester United for 30 years, Megson's negative, safety-first brand of football never appealed to Reebok regulars.
On the night in October 2007 when he was appointed, Bolton were at home to Braga of Portugal in the Uefa Cup and, arriving at the ground, Megson found himself confronted by angry fans protesting against his installation.
Acting against the advice of his security minders, he engaged those supporters in animated discussion and eventually walked off with their applause ringing in his ears. Such cheers were soon destined to turn to ever more poisonous jeers.
