O'Leary and Curbishley in Contention for Newcastle Job

David O'Leary may be offered an opportunity to rehabilitate his managerial career at Newcastle United. Derek Llambias, the club's managing director, is a long-standing friend of the Irishman and he and Newcastle's board are giving serious thought to offering O'Leary a short-term contract.

Although Alan Curbishley is also on Newcastle's radar, the former West Ham manager is believed to be less interested in running the team during the interregnum while Mike Ashley endeavors to sell the club. Moreover, Curbishley resigned after becoming disillusioned with the very sort of continental management structure which also prompted Kevin Keegan to quit as manager at St James' Park.

O'Leary, though, is extremely keen to get back into work after being out of football since leaving Aston Villa in 2006. The one-time Leeds United manager certainly has his critics but the 50-year-old did lead Leeds to the semi-finals of the Champions League and his teams have generally played the sort of high-tempo game which would appeal to Newcastle fans.

Chris Hughton is currently in caretaker charge of Newcastle but, although his coaching ability is highly valued, the board is concerned about his capacity to do the job for an extended period which could conceivably run to several months.

Hughton's problems are exacerbated by the fact that he lacks coaching support. Indeed Newcastle's back room staff is almost as thin as the first-team squad. While Steve Round was never replaced when he became Everton's assistant manager during the summer, Terry McDermott, Keegan's old No2, has recently been sacked along with Adam Sadler, the former reserve-team coach.

Ashley, Llambias and their co-directors Dennis Wise and Tony Jiminez, are believed to be heading back to England today following their trip to the United Arab Emirates to try to find a buyer for Newcastle. The Gulf's media has reported that Ashley - seen drinking in a Dubai bar on Tuesday night when he reputedly failed to turn up for a planned meeting with potential buyers - contacted representatives of assorted investment funds but failed to find anyone interested in buying Newcastle at his £480m asking price.

While the Sports Direct owner was told he might find a purchaser if that demand was lowered to £200m there are suggestions that purportedly interested parties have used his appearance on the scene to generate publicity for their companies.

It is also thought that Dubai's ruling Maktoum family hope that reports linking the Emirate with a potential Newcastle takeover might spur Tom Hicks and George Gillett into finally selling Liverpool to them.