Jeff Bonser has suggested that the new manager will be a presently un-attached one, therefore the club will not have to pay out compensation to any other club. Nicholl has been without a job since he left the Northern Ireland youth set up.
It seems that David Kelly and Richard O'Kelly will be ruled out of the running for the job because of the Asistant Manager positions they currently hold at Preston North End and Bournemouth respectively.
Other advantages that Chris Nicholl has over his rivals is that he has worked under the constraints of the Bescot budgets before. While Nicholl has also been a regular at Bescot this season so he would enter the job with a good knowledge of the squad he would inherrit. At this time of the season where Walsall need results and fast, this could be one of the deciding factors.
Nicholl is a known enforcer of discipline, something that Walsall fans think was missing under the Merson regime.
It is expected the new manager will be named later this week. Nicholl must now be the favourite to take over until the end of the season. I think it would be an appointment that the fans would agree with. It would give us the option of re-advertising in the summer. If we retain League One status then this could mean we would attract higher calibure applicants because the instant threat of relegation will not be so apparant. The new manager would also have a summer to bring in his players and have a pre-season with his team. All in all Walsall would be a much more attractive proposition