Will Newell take a step closer?

Is the door to the Leicester City manager’s room slowly opening for Luton Town boss Mike Newell?.

Newell is known to have been interviewed once and has quietly refused to say anymore than that ‘no job has been offered therefore there is nothing to consider’.

Now there are claims on City website Talking Balls (see Central News by Brauny Blue) that a second round of talks are planned with Newell later today.

If so that would fall in line with the City chairman Jim McCahill’s earlier view that interviews would take up all or most of this week.

The manner of Newell’s recent silence would suggest he has been waiting for further contact from City and he is possibly the only outside manager the fans would still approve of right now and in City’s situation.

Of potential managers known to be under consideration, there has been little said, and certainly no groundswell of support, for Gudjon Thordarson.

Steve Cotterill has ruled himself out and Neil Lennon did the same yesterday but was probably never a serious contender anyway at this stage of his career.

Ian Holloway’s name prompted a negative reaction from the fans and even beyond those few there seems to be no-one but Newell who would presently command more popular approval than the present incumbent, caretaker boss Rob Kelly.

Logic says then that the door is now ajar for the Luton boss. Further talks will dictate whether it is opened fully or whether it is left to swing freely until after the Brighton game on Saturday.

Indeed one wonders if that game is the key which fits the door anyway because City, it seems, have three realistic possibilities for the immediate future.

One, that they invite Newell to be manager and he accepts.

Two, that Newell refuses the job, or City for some reason decide against him and instead stick with Kelly for the rest of the season, with Kelly choosing some additional help.

Three, that City somehow proceed with both, always assuming both parties would accept that.

But would they like to make that choice – or any other if it realistically exists – before Brighton or after?

Like any saga, it would be strange if this one had no twist in the tail.

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