Town have announced a 1pm press conference [delayed to 1.15pm] where Paul Jewell is set to be confirmed as the Blues' new boss.

The former Bradford, Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan and Derby manager has been the only candidate seriously in the frame since bookies stopped taking bets on him taking over from Roy Keane on Thursday, before the Irishman's exit had even been confirmed.

Jewell, 46, was born in Liverpool and began his playing career with the Reds but failed to make a senior appearance at Anfield before moving on to Wigan Athletic in 1984 for £15,000.

The 5ft 8in tall frontman spent four years at Springfield Park, scoring 47 goals in 145 starts and 26 sub appearances.

In 1988 he joined Bradford for £80,000 and was with the Bantams for a decade, netting 66 times in 253 starts and 55 games from the bench. In 1995 he had had a spell on loan at Grimsby where he scored once in three games.

Jewell’s coaching career began on the staff at Bradford while he was still a player and in January 1998 he was made caretaker-manager at Valley Parade, replacing Chris Kamara, having been the current Sky Sports man’s assistant.

After an impressive start, Jewell was given a permanent contract by chairman Geoffrey Richmond and in the 1998/99 season his Bradford side held off Town’s challenge to finish second in what’s now the Championship behind Sunderland to reach the top flight for the first time in 77 years.

Having been everyone’s favourites to go straight back down, the Bantams secured survival on the final day of the 1999/00 season by beating Liverpool 1-0 at Valley Parade, David Wetherall netting the vital goal.

Jewell resigned soon after — assistant Chris Hutchings taking over at the Bantams - to become manager of Sheffield Wednesday, who had been relegated along with Wimbledon and Watford. Jewell's record at Valley Parade was won 46, drew 26 and lost 45 in 117 games in charge.

The Liverpudlian was sacked after only eight months at Hillsborough with the club in financial strife which afflicted them for most of the decade and eventually saw them drop into Division Two (now League One) in 2003. Jewell's record in his 38 games with the Owls was won 12, drew five and lost 21.

In June 2001 Jewell was appointed as manager at Wigan, then in what's now League One, taking them into the Championship in 2002/03, his second season back with the Latics.

Wigan narrowly missed out on a play-off place in their first ever season in the second tier, but a year later Jewell beat the Blues to the Premier League for the second time, Wigan finishing ahead of fellow Scouser Joe Royle’s Town in third with Sunderland again the champions.

The Latics finished 10th in their first season in the Premier League with Jewell amongst the names linked with the vacant England manager’s job during the following summer.

The following season Wigan escaped relegation on goal difference on the last day of the season. A day later Jewell resigned after 127 wins, 74 draws and 90 defeats in 291 games in charge at the JJB Stadium.

Having been mentioned in connection with Leicester and the Republic of Ireland, as well as a possible return to Wigan, Jewell eventually became boss at Derby County in November 2007.

The Rams were already well on their way to their record low Premier League points total of 11 and Jewell was unable to stop the rot. Despite this and tabloid stories regarding his personal life Derby kept him in charge for what they hoped would be a promotion challenge during 2008/09.

But things went little better in the Championship and after a December 2008 1-0 defeat to the Blues at Pride Park, Jewell resigned with his side in 18th place. His record in his 58 games with the Rams was won 12, drew 15 and lost 31.

He has been out of football management since then, although he has become a regular on the media circuit.

Married to Ann-Marie with a son Sam, who has played golf for Yorkshire, Jewell, whose late father Billy was a trade unionist in Liverpool, has been living in Menston near Bradford.

Photo: Action Images

nitroblue1970 added 10:59 - Jan 10 Well jewell has been around a bit and will have some good contacts in the game, unlike keane. The media seem convinced that jewell is in line for the job but think back to jims sacking, who predicted keane to take over? personally i think Jewell is a decent football man but im not convinced hes the right man for the job as his record is more miss than hit!,...but then so was Bobbys when he arrived here!...would have preferred Hodgeson but probably too soon for him...hes a wise old head works well with a smallish team (fulham) and i think could steady the ship and prehaps grrom a younger man to take over in a few years time....and hes a bigger media attraction than jewell, which is what ME and cleggy want more than attractive open flowing football for our beloved club....

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devontractorboy added 11:01 - Jan 10 Paul Jewell always seems a nice guy, a people person, after Keane I think it's just what the lads need at the moment, come on guys & girls 'The only way is up' at the moment, lets get behind Jewell and the players.....I think we might just upset Arsenal on Wednesday!! Too much doom & gloom on here today, after all to be a Town fan you MUST have a sense of humour!!??

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sirbenofmorlingshire added 11:02 - Jan 10 Well they say it's always darkest before the dawn... can't quite see the light yet, but it's out there I'm sure! We'll bounce back soon eneough. fingers crossed we'll avoid the drop this season (I'm positive we will), build up a bit of momentum, and then push forward over the next few seasons, hopefully with some team spirit (fans included) and a good manager. I feel a lot more positive right now - gut feeling by the way!

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bluelady added 11:02 - Jan 10 nitroblue, not sure about Hodson being a bigger media attraction, i seem to remember Jewell having rather a large part in the media around 2 years ago!!!! lol
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bobble added 11:04 - Jan 10 positive vibes the only way is up
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blueherts added 11:09 - Jan 10 Totally agree with most that I CANNOT believe how negative people are . In life some people only seem happy when they have a moan I think this is an exciting time for us - some great young kids coming through and I honestly believe a new man will get some ( some) of the current players a real boost Keane killed confidence , had no management skills - Jewell or whoever it may be - I am sure the ONE FACTOR , SG and ME would look at is - Man Management skills , ability to attract players and coaches People on here seem to think they are stupid !!! Both successful in their own field I am sure they too have learnt over the past 20 months and have slightly better CVs and interview techniques than afew on this board COYB ...Moving on ...........STOP THE BLODDY MOANING

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nitroblue1970 added 11:11 - Jan 10 Bluelady...... good point well made! i will shut up!!!..in a minute...but is there any truth in his "friendship" with ME?.....ok so who do we want..big sam..NO...curbishley..maybe but been out of the game for a while (as has jewell)..martin o Neil( yes, if we can afford it but keane was on a hefty wage)...hughton...not proven really is he???...o droscoll..thats lunacy...burley (wouldnt mind, knows the club, the fans will love him but can he relive past glories?)...or maybe theres someone else no-one has thought of...its happened before only 2 years ago!! but whoever it is COYB!!

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thebeat added 11:15 - Jan 10 Not good enuf as far as im concerned, much better managers out ther, Hughton, Curbishley etc, hope it works but more lies from Clegg saying interviews were ongoiong, weve all known since Friday it was Jewell, why does he have to lie?
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bluelady added 11:20 - Jan 10 hodgson is a friend of Marcus Evans, something to do with corporate hospitality back in his Fulham days. I really thought that he was the guy coming in, the timing just worked so well, clearly though just a co-incidence! I do like the fact that despite Derby wanting him to stay Jewell had the guts to say enough is enough and walk away (unlike our recent manager), and i think that and is personal life is why he took two years out from football. He has been working in the media, sky etc so will have retained contacts and footballing knowledge. I for one prefer him to Curbs who has been out a lot longer and i still am not sure about his compensation case, no smoke without fire (although i know too llittle about it to condem the guy!).

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blueherts added 11:25 - Jan 10 Jewell - sign a striker and RB ....Ellington / Roberts and Wright !!!
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katemoss added 11:37 - Jan 10 bobble Unfortunately, there's always a way down in football. Carlisle, Rochdale and Plymouth here we come.
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Gilesy added 11:41 - Jan 10 Do you know what I crave, more than anything else? It's not a big-name manager (although I think Paul Jewell would be a real coup in our predicament) and it's not the Premier League with prima-donna footballers, matches at practically any time other than 3pm on a Saturday. No, what I crave more than anything else is entertainment and fun...like we had under Burley and Royle. We weren't in the Premier League then, but the ground was full, the noise was good, we scored goals for fun and we played wonderful football. If Paul Jewell can give us that, then I'll be a happy man.

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devontractorboy added 11:43 - Jan 10 katemoss & others STOP MOANING, the poor bloody guy hasn't even arrived yet!! As my old Grannie used to say 'In life if you get dealt lemons...make lemonade!! :-)
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:43 - Jan 10 it wasn't just the tabloids that shouted! http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mikenorrish/6078587/Paul_Jewells_year_from_He
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nitroblue1970 added 11:45 - Jan 10 Mark Venus.....Ray Wilkins....Gordon Strachan....Terry Butcher...bluey...Alan Ferguson....Paul lambert ha ha ha ....sebastian Coe...screaming lord Sutch....the guy with the megafone behind the SBR stand on match days (hes gone on a coaching course y see)....all potential candidates i reckon!!!
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youidiots added 11:45 - Jan 10 Is this really who we are all putting our faith into???? Surely there is someone of better repute/ football nous out there! I'm awesome at Champ Manager so why can't I have a go
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ramseyn added 11:48 - Jan 10 How come the evening star gets the interviews and in the paper this morning yet the press conference isn't til 1pm?
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claaarky added 11:50 - Jan 10 Whoever it is I'll be praying they can get confidence up quickly. Even without all the loan players we have a decent team that the right manager could turn into promotion contenders with a few tweeks. Jewell doesn't excite or inspire me and he's not the type of manager I hoped we'd go for but his Wigan side was very solid, hard to beat with two exciting strikers. I'm still hoping it won't be Jewell but with Sky and the Green 'Un confidently announcing it on Friday, it seems the decision may already have been made last week.

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feelinblue2 added 11:56 - Jan 10 lets put it this way a change is as good as any.........Keane had his chance, his real downfall was his lack of respect for the fans! We don't like losing, no team does but just to see some attractive football would be a great start! Who ever does come in to this once great club............I wish you the very best of luck!
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bluelady added 11:58 - Jan 10 TractorRoy funny thing is he was trownced for bringing in Savage who has remained every since and is a derby Icon now!!!!
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truckertractorboy added 12:02 - Jan 10 Good luck to anyone who takes over but please can everyone back them any way been to every home game this season and the atmosphere has been dead most games ,apart from the 2 games we had in the cup when all the moaners stayed in doors. I was a little ashamed by the support at the forest game if its the same on wednesday we aint got a hope in hell so come all of u and prove how much we love this club and lets make some noise for the tractor boys

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pooboy added 12:10 - Jan 10 all the talk on this board is so negative its untrue its also a symptom of what is wrong at this club,yes its been a while since we had much to shout about but as fans we are a part of that problem as much as any bad signings,poor managers or inept running of the club.I myself did not get a season ticket this year,not because of poor results but because of the miserable apmosphere at pr.the scum put us to shame in this aspect like it not .So if "fans" cant get behind this new regime with some positivity then do not bother.Because this great club is in one hell of a mess at this point in time,the reasons no longer matter,the future does so get down that ground and vocally support the team on the way to being pride of anglia once again,its not just about results!!!!

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katemoss added 12:15 - Jan 10 Shouting and cheering at bunch of talentless, overpaid and under performing no hopers is not going to win us matches. Stick that in your pipe.
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itfc1981 added 12:18 - Jan 10 THANK CHRIST!
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itfc1981 added 12:18 - Jan 10 100!
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