Wolves coach and ex-Birmingham City man linked with vacant Cardiff City manager job

Two coaches with links to Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers are thought to be in contention for the vacant Cardiff City job, following the sacking of Erol Bulut.

John O’Shea and Shaun Derry, according to a report from Wales Online, are among the names considered for the vacancy. Derry is currently serving as a coach to the first team under Gary O’Neil at Wolves, while O’Shea was a coach at Birmingham but left the club when Wayne Rooney was removed from his post back in January.

Both of them have been first team head coaches in the past, though Derry has far more experience in such a role than O’Shea does. Derry managed both Notts County and Cambridge United to varying degrees of success - meanwhile, O’Shea sole stint as a first team manager came during his time as interim boss of the Republic of Ireland national team.

While Derry does have more experience as a manager, it should be noted that he has not taken on a head coach role since 2018 - following his departure from Cambridge, he has preferred coaching roles behind the scenes, working for both Oxford United and Crystal Palace before making the jump to Wolves in 2023.

There is speculation that O’Shea’s name could be touted due to the success of other former Manchester United players in management roles - namely Tom Cleverley and Ruud van Nistelrooy. All of these coaches played under Alex Ferguson - perhaps they picked up one or two things under the Scot’s stewardship?

Nevertheless, it has made O’Shea something of a desirable young coach - especially when his modest success during his brief spell at Ireland is taken into consideration.

Despite this, whoever takes on the Cardiff City job could have an indomitable task ahead of them - the Bluebirds are rooted to the foot of the Championship table with just five points from nine games.