Former Charlton and West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is understood to be the man the Blues are looking to bring to Portman Road if and when Paul Jewell’s time at the club comes to an end.
The incumbent manager currently still has the backing of owner Marcus Evans and chief executive Simon Clegg, but with Town 23rd in the Championship and having picked up only one league win so far this season, that situation could quickly change.
Over the weekend, Jewell said he would consider his Town future but is set to remain in charge for Tuesday’s game against his former club Derby County.
Curbishley has long been a manager admired by club owner Evans with the 54-year-old understood to have been on the short-list of candidates to succeed Roy Keane before Jewell’s appointment.
Former midfielder Curbishley played for West Ham, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Charlton (twice), Brighton and Hove Albion and the England U21s in a career which ran from 1975 until 1993.
In 1991, while he was still playing, he and Steve Gritt were appointed joint-managers at the Valley, Forest Gate-born Curbishley taking lone charge in 1995.
In 1997/98, having beaten Town in the semi-final, the Addicks reached the Premier League after defeating Sunderland 7-6 on penalties after a 4-4- draw in the play-off final at Wembley.
They were relegated in their first season back in the top flight, but returned after just one season as winners of the First Division. Curbishley subsequently signed several members of George Burley’s Town side — Matt Holland, Hermann Hreidarsson, Darren Bent, Darren Ambrose and Marcus Bent.
Having been linked with plenty of bigger jobs during his time at Charlton, Curbishley eventually left the Valley at the end of the 2005/06 campaign.
He took over at West Ham, his boyhood club, in December 2006 and in his first season saved their Premier League status on the final day via a 1-0 win at Manchester United.
Having fallen out with the Hammers’ directors after Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney were sold without his say-so, he resigned in September 2008, winning a case for constructive dismissal in November of the following year.
More recently Curbishley, who is based in Abridge near Chelmsford, was reported to have rejected approaches from Wolves and Bolton.
Given the Blues’ current position, it would be a surprise if owner Evans hadn’t sounded out Curbishley and other potential new managers, Roy Keane having been lined up prior to Jim Magilton’s sacking and Jewell’s appointment coming only a couple of days after Keane’s exit.