Gerard Houllier and Sven Goran Eriksson are being lined up for a return to the Premiership.

A Nigerian consortium are pondering whether to confirm the seriousness of their interest in the Magpies by passing their passports and bank documents over to the Premier League for inspection this week.

And the Sunday Sun says that, having proved they are genuine bidders for Newcastle, the Lagos-based businessmen would then continue sounding out potential new United managers . . .

With Houllier and possibly Eriksson featuring on their list.