Town boss Kieran McKenna is reportedly on the radar of Scottish champions Celtic as they look for a new manager to replace Ange Postecoglou, who left to take the Tottenham job yesterday.
According to the Daily Record, the Parkhead club are targeting Manchester City assistant coach Enzo Maresca but with a number of other options, including McKenna, also under consideration.
Maresca, 43, is said to be keen to return to frontline management but with nothing likely to happen until after City’s Champions League final with Inter Milan on Saturday.
Former Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter is another to have been linked with the role along with Bodo Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen, while speculation that Brendan Rodgers might make a return to Glasgow now appears less likely.
Maresca, who was previously boss at Parma and has also had spells as assistant at West Ham, Ascoli and Sevilla, has also been linked with the vacancy at Leicester City in recent days with McKenna having been similarly mentioned as among the potential alternatives for the Foxes.
Both reports appear little more than speculation at this stage, although McKenna’s success with the Blues and growing reputation within the game certain to draw serious interest from elsewhere at some stage. Recently relegated Leeds United are another club who are searching for a manager and McKenna will similarly be among those in their thoughts as they look to fill their vacancy.
The Northern Irishman, 37, is currently contracted to the Blues until the summer of 2025 having taken charge in December 2021.
Asked whether Town are looking at extending his contract in March, CEO Mark Ashton told TWTD: "I think we all want to see Kieran here for the foreseeable future. He’s happy, he’s got a job to do.
"We don’t really talk about it. That will take care of itself at the right time. But I think one of our biggest strengths is our stability.
"I think you’ve seen me now, I’m not wild in my decision-making, we’re processed, we try and be methodical.
"That steady calmness of the overall club is key and I think if you look at both the Championship and the Premier League this year, they’ve been wilder than I can remember, wilder than I have ever seen before.
"There are a number of clubs who have appointed two managers in quick succession. Are they appointing a young manager? Are they appointing a coach? Are they appointing a more senior manager? What’s the DNA of the football club?
"And I think as a manager, and I’m not talking about Kieran specifically, just a manager, sometimes it’s not about the club, it’s about the people. And I think here, you’ve got a blend of both.
"You’ve got an incredibly historic, big, passionate football club with solid rock steady people, who are going to steer a steady ship and give the manager, as I say to Kieran, the oxygen to do his job.
"I’m not at the training ground every day. He never gets a conversation with me about picking the team, it’s his domain.
"I know what my role is, he knows what his role is and we work professionally together to get the best from the football club, that’s exactly the way it should be.
"He doesn’t need me watching training every day, although he happily says to come and watch. But I’ve got all this to do. We’ve got professionals there to support each other. I’d like to see him and his staff here for the long term.”