No from Shearer so back to the drawing board for Cardiff City

Back to the sofa for football pundit Alan Shearer

When to bed with a possible manager line-up and I wake-up to news he said no. It’s a no from Alan Shearer after meeting Cardiff City over the manager’s job in a statement he said:

"I can confirm I was one of the candidates the club spoke to about the vacant manager's position at Cardiff City.

"During these talks I was most impressed with the vision, ambition and determination of the owner Dato Chan Tien Ghee and the board.

"Unfortunately, those talks were unsuccessful on this occasion.

"Cardiff City is a great club and I wish them every success next season."

So will that mean no announcement from the club on a new manager today?

Who will it be

So how are Sunday newspapers seeing the race to the vacant managerial in the Cardiff City dugout? Well not much. It seems to have passed most of the papers without the tag 'Premiership' or have a manager of note in the mix they are not interested.

• The Wales on Sunday - Have a story the bookies fancy Watford boss Malky Mackay is the new favourite for the Cardiff City hot-seat.
• Sunday People - They have the job as a two horse race between again Malky Mackay and Lee Clark to become their new boss.
• Sunday Mirror - It's Chris Hughton who gets the nod as the long-term favourite in the eyes of the bookies, press and the fans.

Interestingly in the Mirror they are suggesting the Malaysians are going to give the new manager a £12 million war chest. The article also suggests the new bosses brief will be promotion and failure could lead to the sack. A club source told the paper,

"The owners are desperate to get the club up to the Premier League and will not tolerate failure"

It's not clear if the rumoured £12 million includes transfer fees plus wages if it does it will be nothing to cheer about. If the money is purely for transfers it could help with the quality of some signings. Will there be nothing left in the shops by time our manager does his shopping.

We should hear news on the chosen one soon

With Chris Hughton odds on favourite to be the next Cardiff City, but names linked to the post are still emerging has interviews continue. Maybe Hughton is the favourite with the bookies and press it's being reporting he has yet to be interview.

The South Wales Echo has thrown in to new name is morning in the shape of Lee Clark and Malky Mackey. While in the Daily Mirror they are banding round the St Johnstone's manager Derek McInnes. Both have been linked with Nottingham Forest who is expected to sack their present boss Billy Davies today after a board meeting. That would surely make Davies a target for the Cardiff board.

Lee Clark is the present manager Division One club Huddersfield Town and just missed out on promotion to the Championship after losing to Peterborough in the Division One play-offs. The season before he reached the Play-off semi-final, but lost. His career in the dugout kick off at Newcastle United with manager Glenn Roeder has first team coach and reserve team manager. When Roeder was sacked and later took up the post at Norwich, Clark joined him. He stayed with the Norfolk club until December 2008 when he left to become boss at Huddersfield Town.

Malky Mackey led his team Watford to 14th in the Championship last season. His route into management was via caretaker role at Watford, but only lasted five games until Brendan Rodgers took over. When Rodgers resigned to go to Reading Mackey was offered the job on a permanently basic.

When the then manager Owen Coyle left St Johnstone for Burnley in 2007 he signed has player-manager. He was reluctant to be player-manager, but decided to continue to make himself available for the first team. He led them out of the Scottish 1st Division into the SPL.

Hughton the favourite?

It's only rumours, but where would be without rumours during the summer! Read about cricket. From want the South Wales Echo is saying this morning the race for the manager's job is a two horse race between Chris Hughton and Roberto Di Matteo's although the odds on the Italian is cooling.

The Echo has the ex-Newcastle boss Hughton has favourite to the manager's office at the Vale training ground and according to the paper he has already spoken to officials at the Club. Like nearly always with these stories there is a source this time someone close to the ex-manager who revealed he is keen as mustard to coming to South Wales and take over the Bluebirds.

He took Newcastle into the Premiership so knows the pressure of the Championship are like, but in the Premier League after 3-1 defeat at West Brom in December, Hughton was sacked. It was a decision ill-received by the players and the supporters. Only the week before they drew 1-1 with Chelsea and a few weeks before that beat Arsenal away 1-0. Since he was sacked he has been linked with a few jobs.

Swiss-born former Italian international Roberto Di Matteo's has been picking up a lot of support from the fans for the job, but his odds with the bookies who have their finger on the pulse of these things are lengthening.

Di Matteo's was manager of West Brom and was one of the catalyst to Hughtonin lose his job. By February it was the West Brom bosses turn to suffer the sack. Ironically both managers took their respective clubs to the Permier League the previous season with West Brom to automatic promotion behind Hughton and Newcastle.

Various anther names have been mention, but these two are the most widely linked to the spot in the Cardiff dugout. Maybe a cuckoo as land in the nest because from nowhere former Barnsley boss Mark Robins is favourite with some bookies. Hard to believe, but we have to wait and see the target is to announce the new boss by the middle of the week.

Could O'Neill be the one

The future ???

There is a spot in the dugout at the Cardiff City Stadium and the race is starting to warm up. It all happening in private behind closed doors making it so frustrating for the fans. Until the big reveal or leak fans will have to maKe do with rumour after rumour.

The local press as Martin O'Neill on their mind saying he could be tempted to the Cardiff City Stadium, but he is a wanted man. The only Premiership jobs out there is with his old club Aston Villa who he walked out on and Chelsea. Reports suggest Fulham boss Mark Hughes is line up for Villa and if he was to move, then the Fulham job would be available. He was recently voted fans favourite for the job and the bookies have slashed the odds on him to get the Cardiff job, but he has a lucrative offer from super rich Saudi club Al Hilal.

Others in the frame are former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton and ex-West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo. Both have taken Championship teams into the Premiership both via automatic promotion. Today one Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has been linked with the post of Bluebirds manager must be way outside the mix for this one. I was watching on Sky Sports a few weeks ago talking about breaking into management he had just completed his coaching badges. He said he knew he would have to start at the bottom and hopefully work is way up.

The Echo is reporting the will being over the next few days the Club will be interviewing candidates and within a week everyone will know who the man with our futures in his hands.

Bye Dave ... Welcome WHO

Yes he has gone and I can stay I'm unhappy with the news. I was only writing this morning how his report card from last season was an F- for failure. To win around the fans he would need an A+ for next season if he were to stay.

Cardiff's chief executive Gethin Jenkins, said of the official website,

"We would like to thank Dave Jones for his considerable efforts with the club over the past six seasons. He leaves his post in the knowledge that he has left the club in a far better position than when he arrived. Dave's tenure has seen Cardiff City Football Club develop from a standpoint of Championship stability through to becoming regular promotion contenders, while also having taken the team to an FA Cup Final.

"His efforts in the recruitment and development of players also meant that the sale of these players at times enabled the club to survive. He has also had a significant contribution in the development of training facilities and the stadium during his Cardiff City career. We thank him for all that he has done and achieved with the club and wish him well for the future."

There have been plenty of good times with Jones, but the failure to make it great was one of his problems. FA Cup final against Portsmouth were one, but we ended up losers the same with the play- off final losers again. This season we had automatic promotion in our grasp, but it slipped through the fingers of Cardiff and there was this season play-off disaster. Six years was enough, we have been the bridesmaid far too often and not the bride. I wish Dave Jones all the best with is next venture as I don't see him on the beach for too long.

So the speculation over the next manager begins and there will be a host full getting their CV out and giving it a dusting. Some of the likely and unlikely

Craig Bellamy
Chris Hughton
Roberto Di Matteo
Gary Megson
Gordon Strachan
Paul Ince
Aidy Boothroyd
Gianfranco Zola
Alan Curbishley
Hope Powell
John Toshack
Ray Wilkins
Roy Keane
Sam Allardyce
Ryan Giggs

Who would I go for, I would like Bellamy because of his passion you would expect no team of his to sit back and kick the ball around aimlessly, but he has no managerial experience could do the job has coach with an experience boss to learn off. I like the idea of Ray Wilkins who was No 2 at Chelsea for years and has a black book loaned with footballing contacts.

At the end of the day it will be down to Gethin Jenkins and the club's director Alan Whiteley who the club confirmed as leading the search for a new manager. I think a panel of ex-Cardiff City players and one or two members of the supporter's club should do the searching.