Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has thrown his hat into the Newcastle United ring. And so too has former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.
In fact there are several big hitters in the game both at home and abroad who have made it clear that they would love the job, even though United have already decided that Sam Allardyce is the man.
Yesterday I took calls from Spain, Greece, France and Norway from people representing would-be United managers - and there will be even more calls going into St James' Park.
The Chronicle's front page headline of "Big Sam The Man" on Monday morning went round the world and revealed that United had decided Allardyce would be their next manager.
But while Eriksson can save his breath, I have to say that Houllier ticks a lot of boxes, having won six trophies in his days at Anfield - the FA Cup, two League Cups, the UEFA Cup, the European Super Cup and the Charity Shield.
He is currently at Lyon and has a 19-point lead over Lens at the top of the Championnat and this will be his fourth French title.
A source close to the 59-year-old Houllier told me from Paris today: "Obviously Gerard has had heard about Sam Allardyce, but he would still love to be manager of Newcastle United.
"He has a release clause in his contract - and he would be on the next plane to Newcastle because he feels that he has unfinished business in the Premiership."
Houllier was one of several continental managers, including the likes of Claudio Ranieri and Roberto Mancini, who wanted the United job 12 months ago when Freddy Shepherd decided to give it to Glenn Roeder after the former skipper had taken the club into Europe.
Eriksson was still with England then, but his agent Athol Still is now putting him forward to replace Roeder.
Still said: "Newcastle United is a massive, massive club and Sven would consider it an honour to be their manager."
United will not be saying anything officially about their managerial situation until after the Premiership season ends on Sunday.
But United feel the Allardyce deal will go through, even though Bolton Wanderers will demand compensation on their former manager who was under contract at the Reebok Stadium until October 1999.
And the talk in football is that Allardyce is facing a third inquiry by the Quest transfer probe team, even though he has vehemently denied any wrong-doing, while the situation regarding the departure of Kevin Bond from St James' Park is a concern among some fans I have spoken to.
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