Those clubs are almost certain to include Colchester and Hibernian, as Town wish to speak to former care-taker manager, Tony Mowbray and the successful Layer Road boss Phil Parkinson.
The process of appointng a new manager is likely to take three stages of interviewing and David Sheepshanks told the EADT: We have had nearly 40 serious applicants and there have been one or two surprising candidates among them.
“The next step is for the board to agree in principle the profile of the ideal candidate and we will take it from there. At this stage we are ruling everyone in before ruling anyone out.”
Tony Mowbray, who is unlikely now to be offered the Middlesborough job, is emerging as an early favourite, whilst Terry Butcher has reportedly been offered £350,000 to take the job at Austrailian club Sydney FC. He must decide in the next few days.
Alan Curbishley, Martin O'neil and Billy Davies are all thought to be out of the clubs financial reach.