Tranmere manager Micky Mellon has emerged as a front-runner for the vacant St Mirren manager’s job in the last 24 hours, however, the former Shrewsbury Town manager has also attracted the attention of Barnsley this summer.
A newspaper in Scotland ran a story yesterday that Mellon was a contender for the job at St Mirren who will compete in the Scottish Premier League next season.
He has been backed in from 16/1 on Sunday to as short as 5/1 this week to take over at his hometown club in Paisley, however, a host of other names remain in the frame.
High-profile former footballers including Patrick Kluivert, Benni McCathy and even Guti have all been named as contenders, or confirmed as having applied.
St Mirren are not the first club to look at Mellon this summer, however.
Rovers Rearguard understands that League One club Barnsley, where Mellon was previously both assistant manager and caretaker manager, were apparently keen on speaking to Micky in the days following the play-off victory over Boreham Wood at Wembley.
We do not know for sure whether the approach was made in the end, but we are fairly confident in our sources that he was a name strongly considered by the Oakwell outfit.
It looks like the Barnsley job will now go to unknown German coach Daniel Stendel who has flown in for talks with the Yorkshire club. Previously, Grant McCann was the odds-on favourite for the post but that now looks dead in the water.
Barnsley are one of a host of Yorkshire clubs currently looking for a new boss with Leeds United, Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers also on the lookout.
It could be a nervy few months for Rovers fans as Mellon’s excellent work at Prenton Park will inevitably attract interest from elsewhere. It was his fourth promotion as a manager.
Hopefully, it will all just blow over and leave us to enjoy the pre-season!
UPDATE: 6/6/18 – 1:49pm: Barnsley have now confirmed the appointment of Stendel as their new manager. Alan Stubbs and Gary Caldwell are also looking the most likely for the post at St Mirren.
