Former Canaries skipper Craig Fleming could be on the verge of taking his first steps in football management. Blue Square Premier League side Histon are advertising for a new manager and are thought to be interested in the 38-year-old.

Former Canaries skipper Craig Fleming could be on the verge of taking his first steps in football management.

Blue Square Premier League side Histon are advertising for a new manager and are thought to be interested in the 38-year-old.

Fleming - who has his Uefa B licence and is now in the final stages of acquiring his Uefa A licence - has earned his spurs with Lowestoft, where, in his two seasons at Crown Meadow, the Trawler Boys have won successive promotions.

However, that success appears to have come at a cost, with Fleming now ready to take the managerial plunge.

Histon advertised for a new manager at the weekend after a season in which they suspended and then sacked Steve Fallon, the man who took the Stutes from a village side playing Eastern Counties League football to one step from the professional game.

Fleming made more than 380 appearances for the Canaries and was part of the side which won promotion to the Premier League in 2004.

Although he is understood to be keen to move into management, it is likely he would have to form a coaching team to take with him - and with 10 years at Carrow Road on his CV he is unlikely to be short of contacts. It was Fleming who persuaded former Canaries team-mate Gary Holt - a one-time coach with City boss Paul Lambert at Colchester - to join Lowestoft last autumn, as well as bringing in other players who helped form the backbone of the Blues team.

Fleming still lives locally and the job at Histon would appear to be the ideal first step on the management ladder.

He declined to comment yesterday, but his ambition to move further up the footballing ladder are well known.

The fact that Histon advertised the job has left incumbent Alan Lewer in the dark over his own future.

Lewer replaced John Beck as assistant to Fallon in September, but was promoted to manager when Fallon was suspended and then sacked by chairman Tony Roach at the turn of the year.

"I haven't been sacked and I haven't resigned," he said. "So why should I want to apply for a job I'm already in?

"I heard that they might be advertising, but I wasn't told any more than that.

"As far as I know the club has not made a decision as to what they're going to do. If they're advertising for the manager's job perhaps there's an ulterior motive," he said.