Norwich City board move closer to new manager as deadline approaches

The wait has continued into the weekend to discover who will lead Norwich City as their manager in the Championship next season.

The Canaries' self-imposed deadline of 'the end of the week' to deliver news on who will be their permanent successor to Chris Hughton was set on Sunday, meaning a resolution should be expected this weekend – although the process may yet continue into a second week before official confirmation arrives from the club.

City held a board meeting on Friday afternoon, with end-of-season incumbent Neil Adams, former Watford manager Gianfranco Zola and ex-Cardiff boss Malky Mackay believed to be the leading contenders discussed.

Mackay attended Thursday night's Football Writers' Association dinner, along with Hughton, but was coy when asked if he is close to taking over at City.

'There are various teams at the moment out there who don't have a manager and like everyone else I just have to wait and see,' he said. 'But I'm looking to get back into management as quickly as possible.

'I really enjoyed testing myself against the best coaches in the world. We had some tough games and there's times that you really see the difference in world-class players. Other times we competed really well and we managed to beat the champions (Manchester City), which Cardiff should be proud of.'

A fake Twitter account purporting to be BBC pundit Garth Crooks claimed Neil Lennon would be named City's boss within 48 hours on Thursday – and bookmakers also shortened their odds to make Lennon their favourite for the Carrow Road hot seat.

However, it is believed Lennon is not currently a frontrunner for the job.