Lincoln City’s new Championship rivals Burnley are shortlisting candidates for their new manager, with Cardiff City gaffer Brian Barry-Murphy in the mix.
The Imps will face Burnley for the first time since bridging the 81-place gap in our famous FA Cup upset at Turf Moor in 2017.
With their relegation to the second-tier already confirmed, Scott Parker left the Clarets by mutual consent at the end of April.
And talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs has Barry-Murphy among the early contenders for the vacant position in East Lancashire.
Burnley still have two matches of the current campaign remaining, as they look to dent Arsenal’s title ambitions on Monday evening before hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day. While both sides have already been relegated, there could be positioning at stake for the Premier League’s bottom two sides. Wolves trail Burnley by three points ahead of the weekend’s action, with boss Rob Edwards under increasing fan pressure, even though his side’s relegation was all but confirmed before he took over.
This is a job that Lincoln head coach Michael Skubala hasn’t yet been linked with, but don’t be surprised if those rumours do follow in the coming weeks. However, one man whose name has been thrown into the hat is Bluebirds boss Barry-Murphy. He is an unknown quantity in the Championship, so it would be a big gamble if Burnley were to make an approach. There are similarities to be drawn with Birmingham City and Chris Davies last year. Both teams had a relatively untested manager in charge of a club expecting to bounce back at the first time of asking, albeit Cardiff did so without the same war chest.
Derby County boss John Eustace has also been linked with the hotseat at Turf Moor, which would be an extremely controversial move. Eustace moved to the Rams from Blackburn Rovers last year, and returning to East Lancashire to manage Rovers’ fierce rivals would not go down well at Ewood Park. The 46-year-old enjoyed an excellent first full campaign at Pride Park, just falling short of the Championship play-offs on the final day of the season.
Cardiff Approaching Key EFL Deadline
While the speculation surrounding Barry-Murphy’s immediate future in South Wales may rumble on in the coming weeks, there’s an immediate decision waiting to be made. Chances are, it has already been decided, with the deadline for clubs to submit their retained lists coming in 48 hours’ time this Saturday. However, Cardiff have yet to publish their list to supporters.
A handful of the Bluebirds squad face uncertain futures, namely Perry Ng, Joel Bagan and Ryan Wintle. All three played a significant role in their promotion back to the second tier, with Bagan named in the League One Team of the Season last month. Cardiff have already made a signing, making Nathan Trott’s move from Danish side F.C. København permanent earlier in May.
Cardiff were a top-end League One outfit for almost the entirety of the season, winning promotion, like Lincoln, away at Reading. The Bluebirds were league leaders earlier this year, until we toppled them at the Cardiff City Stadium in March. However, despite stumbling in the immediate aftermath of that defeat, the Bluebirds rallied themselves in the penultimate month of the season to secure promotion with games to spare.
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