Robbie Fowler is a surprise name to have reportedly declared his interest in the vacant Northern Ireland manager’s job.
The former England forward and Liverpool legend’s name is reported by the Daily Mail to be among a host of candidates who have thrown their hat into the ring to replace the departed Nigel Worthington, with the IFA having received hundreds of applications.
Martin O’Neill, a man with a wealth of high level experience on his CV, raised hopes that he might be interested in taking on the lead role for his homeland when he flew into Belfast on Friday to meet with IFA chairman Jim Shaw and chief-executive Patrick Nelson.
However, Sportsmail has reported that the ex-Celtic and Aston Villa boss is just being used in an advisory role, as they organisation tries to separate the wheat from the chaff among their large pile of applications.
And the Mail reports that Fowler’s former Leeds United team-mate, and current Northern Ireland international, Warren Feeney has said that the 36-year-old ex-Liverpool hit-man is ‘strongly interested’.
Fowler, who has also played at Manchester City and Cardiff, and enjoyed some football in Australia, is currently player-coach at Thai side Muangthong United.
Northern Ireland fell out of genuine contention for Euro 2012 relatively early, with later back-to-back defeats to Estonia putting an end to their hopes as they eventually finished fifth in qualification Group C. Only the Faroe Islands, who they dropped two points against at one stage, were below them.
Jim Magilton and Iain Dowie remain the front-runners for the post, along with Shamrock Rovers manager Michael O’Neill, who has, however, reportedly been offered a hefty pay hike by the Irish champions to stay on in Tallaght.