Fulham insist they have set no deadline for the appointment of their new manager despite the club’s search for Roy Hodgson’s successor threatening to drag on into its fourth week.
The Cottagers’ attempts to replace Hodgson with Ajax’s Martin Jol ended in failure last week when the Dutch club refused to allow their manager to join the Barclays Premier League side.
Cardiff manager Dave Jones is now the bookmakers’ favourite for the job, while Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mark Hughes and former Bayern Munich manager Jurgen Klinsmann have also been mentioned as possible candidates.
First team coach Ray Lewington will remain in charge for the club’s final game of their pre-season tour of Sweden tonight before the team return to the UK, where they will take on Portsmouth and Werder Bremen before their Barclays Premier League curtain-raiser at Bolton on August 14
A spokesperson insisted the club will not be rushed into appointed a successor to Hodgson, who left last year’s Europa League finalists for Liverpool on July 1.
“The chairman is obviously confident that we will have someone in place but we won’t be rushed into making a decision,” she said.
“There is no deadline. The chairman wants to make sure that he has the right man for the job and will make that decision as and when he sees necessary.
“We have our second friendly of the pre-season tour of Sweden tomorrow and the chairman is very happy with the way that preparations are going under Ray Lewington so we are not panicking here.
“It’s business as usual. Ray Lewington is doing a great job with the pre-season campaign and the managerial situation will be resolved as and when we have the right man for the job.”
