OXFORD United have been inundated with applications for the new manager's job, writes JON MURRAY.

Chairman Firoz Kassam said that he had received 60 applications, including a number from bosses who had managed at Premiership level.

And this has come without United advertising the post following the resignation 12 days ago of Malcolm Shotton.

Kassam has been reluctant to make any comment about the kind of manager he is looking for and he has not set any time scale for when the new lord of the Manor will be in place.

However, he intends carrying out a number of interviews next week and suggested that a new man may well be in place before the end of November.

"There is time, I can't afford to rush it. The most important thing is that we get the appointment right," he said.

Kassam believes that, of the 60 applicants, a short-list of around 12 will be worthy of interviewing. Among them are believed to be Mark Wright, Mark McGhee, Ian Atkins, Nigel Spackman, Ray Clemence, Richard Hill and Ray Houghton - who resigned as a player and coach at Stevenage this week - plus the current caretaker manager Mickey Lewis who, although he has not officially applied, has said he would like the job.

But the fact that there are former Premiership managers among the list is intriguing and creates speculation that one or more of Ray Harford, Dave Merrington, Colin Todd, Mike Walker, Terry Butcher, Bobby Gould, Roy Hodgson or even Joe Kinnear may have applied.

Kassam says he has been encouraged by the "quality" of some of the candidates.

But what mattered was not so much the CVs of the prospective applicants as whether they fitted in for what was needed at United.

And that suggests being able to work within a tight budget is one of the key credentials.

Story date: Saturday 06 November

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