Steve Bruce makes his case to take the hotseat at Wolves

Published on Saturday 18 February 2012 00:00

Wolverhampton Wanderers continued their search for Mick McCarthy’s successor yesterday, with Steve Bruce interviewed by club owner Steve Morgan and chief executive Jez Moxey.

Bookmakers favourite Alan Curbishley is understood to have created a favourable impression when he spoke to Morgan and Moxey on Thursday and remains in pole position to replace the sacked McCarthy. He is believed to have outlined his plans for establishing the midlands club in the Barclays Premier League after three years of battling to avoid the drop.

Curbishley showed those qualities in more than a decade in charge at Charlton and also at West Ham and is keen to return to the game after a three-and-a-half year absence. He was also one of the contenders for the England post in 2006 after Sven Goran Eriksson announced he was quitting after that summer’s World Cup in Germany.

But former Birmingham, Wigan and Sunderland manager Bruce is also under sufficient consideration to have been granted the chance to outline his credentials to Morgan and Moxey. The likes of Neil Warnock, Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith have also been linked with the vacant manager’s post.

Moxey said: “We are continuing to work to the timetable we indicated at the outset of this process and remain optimistic we will be able to fulfil those requirements. Our intention has always been to have a new manager installed in time to take charge of the team for the Newcastle match and that remains the case. But I stress – we want the right candidate, not the quick candidate.”