JOHN TOSHACK wishes to go where so many others fear to tread by becoming the next manager of Blackburn Rovers. On the day when Sven Goran Eriksson formally, if belatedly, announced that he was definitely to renege on an agreement to assume control at the Lancashire club, Toshack indicated he is now ready to return to England after more than a decade of coaching abroad.

Discreetly, by way of a third party, the former Liverpool and Wales striker has opened up lines of communication with a club which has suffered a number of rather embarrassing snubs in recent months.

Toshack recently resigned his post at Spanish first division club Deportivo la Coruna after a sequence of poor results.

Although Blackburn will not hesitate to add Toshack's name to a revised shortlist of candidates, it is thought unlikely that any appointment will be made before the end of the season.

Meanwhile, if Bolton Wanderers should win promotion from the First Division this season, they may be forced to open next season sharing Maine Road with Manchester City. After 102 years, Bolton are to leave Burnden Park in the summer, but a new, all seater stadium in nearby Horwich may not be completed before the Premiership campaign opens on August 9th.

Everton will attempt to lure Croatian international defender Slaven Bilic away from Upton Park if West Ham United are relegated this season.

The Merseyside club would be willing to pay around £5 million for Bilic, who joined West Ham from German club Karlsruhe 12 months ago.

Royle is also considering resurrecting what is a longstanding interest in Leeds United's Carlton Palmer.