Leicester City's managerial crisis is likely to deepen over the next couple of days with George Graham poised to turn down the chance of succeeding Peter Taylor.
|  |
Graham: Has legal case against old club to fight
(AlexLivesey/Allsport) |
Club chairman John Elsom has targeted Graham, the former Arsenal, Leeds and Tottenham boss, as the man to lift Leicester off the bottom of the Premiership.
But Graham, whose legal battle with Tottenham over his acrimonious departure is due to start next week, still harbours hopes of a high-status appointment and his agent said:'George is interested in any club whose ambition matches his own.'
His rejection of the job would put former West Ham boss Harry Redknapp, now football director at Portsmouth, into pole position while the sacked Taylor is likely to make a quick return into the England set-up.
Elsom, desperate for a manager with top-flight credentials, said: 'We cannot really take a gamble because whoever comes in has to be a fireman and rescue the situation.
'We'd be looking for someone with Premiership management experience.' Graham's record of stabilising clubs - particularly Leeds after Howard Wilkinson's exit - is just the type of leadership the club needs following Taylor's disastrous start to the season.
Redknapp is the preferred choice of Leicester plc chairman Sir Rodney Walker and Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric said last night: 'I wouldn't be happy to part with Harry, but our relationship is based on friendship and if he wanted above all else to leave, I'd have to listen to him.'
The sacked Taylor, however, will find that he still has friends at the FA.
While an immediate return to the senior England staff is not on the agenda, the man who managed the senior team against Italy last year will be offered some scouting duties after Saturday's World Cup qualifier with Greece.
- NEWS