Forest still managerless ahead of City clash

Coventry City and Nottingham Forest meet at the Ricoh Arena next Saturday in what could be described as the first 'six-pointer' of the season with both sides mired near the foot of the Championship table.

While the Sky Blues' scarce resources continue to be stretched to the limit, their visitors are still reeling from a disastrous start to the season and the departure of Steve McClaren, the man who was supposed to take Forest a step further than Billy Davies had done and lead them back into the Premier League.

Clashes over a lack of funding for new players were key to McClaren's exit although City boss Andy Thorn would doubtless have liked the chance to sign players of the calibre of Jonathan Greening, Ishmael Miller and Matt Derbyshire over the past few months.

No new manager has yet been named although some of the top names in the game such as Stuart Pearce, Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane have been linked.

A move to bring Paul Hart back to the City Ground as technical director has hit the buffers on compensation grounds as Forest's search continues.

***Updated***As of Wednesday evening the situation is still the same although three people are thought to have been interviewed about the vacant role, Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill, former Barnsley boss Mark Robins and Aston Villa coach (and former City midfielder) Kevin MacDonald.

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