Alan Shearer has already selected his backroom team as he prepares for a sensational return to Newcastle United.
The Daily Express says ex-Toon teammate Rob Lee revealed this week that Shearer was finally ready to take over the job if club circumstances were right.
Now it is understood that Lee will be installed as Newcastle's No2 if Shearer becomes the next manager of Newcastle.
Former Newcastle coach John Carver, who served under Sir Bobby Robson among others, would also be part of any new Shearer set-up. He is currently working in Canada.
Carver was once caretaker boss of the Toon for a spell and Shearer wants him back with fitness coach Paul Winsper, who is also currently working in Toronto.
Shearer is almost certain to ask close friends Mike Newell, Lee Clark and Robbie Elliott to form part of his back-room team. Newell played with Shearer at Blackburn while both Clark and Elliott are former Newcastle team-mates.
An American consortium are already in the process of due diligence - checking the books - and have made Shearer their first choice.
A source close to Shearer said: "He will insist on no interference from the board in the way he runs things and wants to bring in his own men. He has already begun talking to people he is close to in the game about coming to work with him if and when the job offer comes."