KEVIN Keegan seeks a fourth straight win over Bolton Wanderers tonight, knowing that a long line of his possible successors is building at the Blues door.
And at the head of queue is Celtic boss Martin O'Neill, the man M.E.N. Sport can reveal the City hierarchy would like to tempt south of the border.
O'Neill, who played at Maine Road in the 1981-82 season, has been widely discussed in the corridors of power at City along with Gordon Strachan, Crystal Palace chief Iain Dowie, and tonight's opposing boss, Sam Allardyce.
The debate surrounding Keegan's long-term future was stirred again at the weekend when Blues keeper David James urged clarification and the manager himself confirmed that he felt it right that he had announced his preferred leaving date - the end of next season - so early.
That has left the Blues' think tank plenty of time to identify a successor and they have quickly put O'Neill at the head of their wish-list.
City's powerbrokers reason that with the Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, United and Arsenal jobs seemingly secured for years to come, they can offer O'Neill the best alternative if he decides to leave Celtic - though that remains a big if.
The Board also believes the club's profile fits O'Neill's management style of extracting the best from players who are not necessarily household names.
Should O'Neill indicate his determination to stay in the north then a bona fide Scot Strachan could be next in line. There would be few barriers to his coming to City, given that he is currently working as a BBC pundit after leaving Southampton.
Keegan has made no indication that he wishes to leave either this summer or before the end of his contract but his position has been the talk of the terraces for months.
He said at the weekend that he would like to complete his time with the Blues but if chairman John Wardle didn't want him to see out his deal then he would have 'no problem'.
Could the Blues tempt O'Neill to the City of Manchester Stadium? Have your say.
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No chance!
Is Chris Bailey a rag? If there's any stirring to be done where City are concerned he'll do it. The header was surely penned to provoke a reaction from Rags and Blue doomers - "Big Four" my backside. Excuse me MEN, but hasn't the managers position been clarified AGAIN this week. Where's the substance Bailey? Boring.
Martin O,Neill would be a excellent choice to replace KK every effort must be made to bring in a top manager like O,Neill. Please Mr Wardle do not employ Strachan or Allardyce, What have either of these ever won? I for one would not want to watch a team who constantly pump the ball 50 yards up the pitch like Allardyces team does.
Dowie or O'Niell - yes please. Strachan - no thanks. Personally, I would settle for SA but he would knowingly come as 3rd or 4th choice, which is unlikely to appeal much to him.
Why would Sam Allardyce even consider this job for a second. He is not bettering himself at all by going to Eastlands and in my opinion Bolton are a better club than Manchester City at the moment. As for Strachan, maybe?, but O'Neill like Allardyce is at a bigger club.
Yes, I'd love to see City pouring even more money down the drain chasing after big names when they've got plenty of talent at home. Don't be bl**dy stupid. It's consistency and team spirit that we need, not another manager with his own entourage clearing out the exixsting playing and backroom staff. Stuart Pearce is the ideal choice and we should look no further.
Why on earth would Martin O'Neill move to a much smaller club? The only reason that I can think of is that the Premiership is a more competitive league, however it is a league that both Rangers and Celtic will be competing in, within the next three years. O'Neill will be staying put. Strachan would be a good manager for city.
O'Neill is the obvious candidate.
Could be as early as Wednesday if Bolton get a result tonight... I still think we will sneak it though
2-1
With the possible exception of O'Neil (who has n't really proved himself as a world class manager) all the rest of the alleged contenders mean that City will never win anything - mid table management.
i think city are one of the clubs next in line who can get the likes of oneill to the club on a football club sense. but i think the real factor in getting him to city would be mainly if money was talking, and alot of it would be needed to lure him to our club. i think we should get him if the terms were good as i think he could achieve something much more than the likes of strachan. although alardyce would be a good candidate too.
YAWN !
I belive the new manager is to be ronald koeman, i can't name the source for obvious reasons but i have put a B#100 bet on at william hills, they wouldn't take more because they believed i knew something they didn't. that says it all.
O'Neill would see it as astep down, Sam is settled at Bolton and Strachan is not good enough.
Iain Dowie is the man. Young, enthusiastic, full of new ideas and a track record of over achievement with average players!!
Bolton bigger than City, yeah right. They'll be bringing their usual 'massive' away support in a motor bike and side car tonight! Sam would love to manage a club with passionate supporters like City's rather than a bunch of part-timers who have to play music when they score a goal, just to whoop-up some false enthusiasm. Bolton are a Toy Town team with Toy Town supporters... and Sam knows it.
Dowie!!!!!!
Mark, Bolton - forgot your medication have you? Bolton a bigger club - please, lets keep it mildly realistic. No-ones saying City are Champions League quality and we have no chance of Mr O'Neill joining us, but to say Bolton are a bigger club when you average 25,000 less per week, and can't even fill your ground unless City or United come to visit is complete folly. You sound just like your mickey-mouse chairman with his inane ramblings - why would City want Allardyce anyway? Can't say I'd look forward to the complex "Knock it long to Kevn Davies" tactic you employ. If we have no money Dowie is the best choice of those mentioned - I've nothing against Mr Allardyce or his club but think it best for all if he did stay where he is.
you talk about barriers of strachan comin to city!!
well i can think of one...us fans!!
we dont want an old rag whose only achievment in football was helpin coventry get relagated..no thanks..thats one barrier!
What a throw away line from Chris Bailey "Few barriers to prevent Strachan taking the job" The first major barrier is that he ex United that is a major barrier to City fans. I still stick with Dowie he has good man management skills something that fiery scot Strachan does not. I am not sure about O.Neil taking a job in a two team league does not impress me!
Bobster, spot on about Chris Bailey and Blue Dave's right about the managers mentioned anyway! I'd rather see Brian Horton back if those are the men in the frame, he's doing a fine job at Macc!! Why though can't you just concentrate on tonight's game M-O-L and stop trying to stir this nonsense, we are playing later aren't we?
Martin O'neill would be the only british manager I would be happy to bring to city as he seems to bring something out of rubbish players i.e. Hartson(yes I know its only the scottish league).The rest are just no better than what we have already,Allardyce would just bring in loads of over 30 players,now we know what that feels like dont we,thats no good to us.This clown that says Bolton are a bigger club than us is just dreaming,16 thousand against fulham in a cup tie is just a disgrace,all these Bolton fans that were whingeing because they couldn't get tickets for the league cup final can shut up.I believe we need a good european coach who will take us on another level and at least make us look competitive rather than these also ran english managers who just know how to hoof the ball upfield(allardyce).
would love to see o' neill come. very good at getting the best out of average players, lets face it we've got quite a few. dowie would be a good alternative, of all the teams around the bottom think they play by far the best football and considering where they were just over a year ago when dowie took over he's done a magnificent job. just a quick note, was reading text on the same subject and saw the name pascal le guen mentioned, lyon are by far the best team in france and maybe he would fancy a go in the prem. i for one would welcome a foreign manager, look what the likes of wenger, mourihno etc have done. CTID
Andy,th'oldham - Spot on. Ronald Koeman is the man.
Dowie!!!!!!!
Dave Evans, Zurich, I agree with you yet again ! ONeill would be my choice if I could choose a new boss. He has always been extremely complimentary towards City and knows from his time as a palyer that whoever eventually turns the bBlues into a top 5 regular will be given god like status by the fans. We would need a 60,000 capacity stadium if we ever get close to winning the Prem.The only UK based alternative is Dowie. There are some great overseas bosses but we must ensure we do not get a Christian Gross !! We are all perhaps being a touch premature but Keegan mst be sacked at very least at the end of the season. On the whole he has done a good job for the Blues. He has not spent as much as some claim on net transfer fees paid ( perhaps around B#30m ) which is justifiable over 4 years when you consider he has done his job by getting us up and keeping us there. Don't forget the Rags this year alone have spent B#45m on 3 players ( Rooney Heinze and Smith ). However ,Keegan keeps stirring the pot with his unnecessary comments. And also, his declaration that he was leaving at the end of last season was a total disgrace. He should have kept his mouth shut and worked with the board to quielty find a successor and then not made an announcement until this time next year. This is because, as he has shown more and more lately, he is not interested in managing a fantastic club like Manchester City. He still thinks we are less of a big club than his beloved Geordies, which is total crap. Nobody has got more loyal fans than us. We were not getting 10,000 in division 2 Keegan !! If he was employed by me and told me he was leaving when he did I would have given him his marching orders there and then. He is clearly not interested any more and that is the ultimate insult to the best fans in the world ( are you reading this Delia ? ).
For gods sake, none of the above ESPECIALLY Strachan.
Thought City were monitoring events at Lyon where the excellent Paul Le Guen is refusing a new contract.
They play great football under him and are punching above their weight in Europe.
I know it's going to be hard to get him but they have to TRY at least to get someone of his calibre before they settle on one of the non entities in this story!!!
Andy, th'Oldham, does this bet have a time-factor? Anyway, well done ED, some discreet editing on my post. Maybe you have a point. Calling someone a rag may not be libellous, but it's definitely one of the worst insults possible. I'd like to remind fellow blues of the last time a Rag was in charge of City - 33 days and a lot of tears.