THE race to find the new manager of Blackburn Rovers is believed to have been whittled down to just three candidates today.

Jack Walker and the Ewood board met yesterday to draw up a short list as the quest to find Brian Kidd's successor hots up.

And, as I understand it, the club have now narrowed down their search to just three targets from an original list of approximately 20 names.

No appointment is likely before this weekend's Nationwide League clash with Fulham at Ewood.

And the timing of any appointment will depend on whether or not their top target is currently in work or not.

That could mean that fans favourite Martin O'Neill could be one of the names in the frame, together with Preston North End chief David Moyes.

But the club are now in a position where they can step up their efforts to find a new man and they are happy with the quality of their targets.

"The meeting went excellently and we have made some real progress," said chief executive John Williams.

"We had an objective which was to come up with a short list and we have now met that.

"The board drew up a job specification and the list was completed against that.

"And having had a decent number of quality names to discuss the board are very pleased with the final list."

Williams refused to be drawn, however, on any specific individuals despite speculation in today's tabloids again linking former Bolton boss Colin Todd and ex-Wimbledon chief Joe Kinnear with the post.

But I believe Todd is one of the names in the frame, together with O'Neill and either Moyes or Graeme Souness.

Meanwhile, caretaker boss Tony Parkes has received a timely boost with the news that Billy McKinlay is ready to make a comeback. The Scottish international midfielder has been out of action since Rovers beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the Premiership at Villa Park on February 6.

But the 30-year-old has been included in Rovers reserve team squad for their game against Manchester United tonight at Gigg Lane (kick off 7pm).

The game should have gone ahead tomorrow instead but it has been brought forward 24 hours to avoid clashing with England v Scotland Euro 2000 play-off second leg at Wembley.

Rovers reserve squad is: Fettis, McNamee, Richardson, McKinlay, Brown, Murphy, Johnson, Gill, Hamilton, Thomas, O'Brien, Corbett, Hind, McAvoy, Fitzpatrick, Scates.

Rovers Nationwide League clash with Birmingham City at St Andrews has been rearranged for Tuesday February 15 at 7.45pm.

The game was originally due to take place last Saturday but had to be postponed because of the Euro 2000 play-offs.

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