Now Wolves chase Brian McDermott

Brian McDermott is the new headline contender for the Molineux job with Wolves today poised to approach Reading for permission to speak to their manager.

But reports that another rising Championship boss, Brighton's Gus Poyet, is also on Wolves' radar have been dismissed by the Premier League club.

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Wolves have also denied speculation raging last night that they were already in talks with McDermott, the 50-year-old successor to Brendan Rodgers who has been carving an impressive reputation for himself since taking over at the Madejski Stadium in December 2009.

But an interview with the man who led Reading to the Championship play-off final last season and has the club well-placed to challenge again this time around is on the cards – with Wolves receiving indication McDermott would be cleared to discuss the post with them.

It's the first time in the hunt for Mick McCarthy's successor that the name of a manager in-post has emerge.

Chief executive Jez Moxey stuck to his guns on confidentiality today and refused to discuss individuals but he did say: "We have been talking to people in and out of current positions all the time. All our options, including both short-term and long-range possibilities, remain open."

McDermott, 50, has not managed in the Premier League before and would clash with Molineux's original 'job spec' which demanded an experienced man wise to the ways of winning Premier League points.

But Wolves have struggled to find a candidate to tick all their boxes and are now willing to extend their search to one of the game's most promising young coaches.

Behind the scenes, the pace is also quickening with the looming fixture at Newcastle, and the start of a 13-game sequence in which Wolves must try to salvage their season focusing the mind of owner Steve Morgan and his board.

Steve Bruce, regarded as a safe candidate but handicapped by a negative reaction from supporters, still leads the line of men ready, available and willing - and will even take the job until the end of the season if necessary.

McDermott, a former chief scout at Reading, is only a year younger than Bruce but fits into the category of the new breed of home managers making ripples in the domestic game.

He would also get a 'leg-up' from Wolves ex-Reading pair Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt, two players he was instrumental in bringing to England.