Stoke City are hoping to have Mark Hughes’ successor in place in time for next Monday’s Premier League game against Manchester United and Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill appears to be one of a number of potential replacements being given serious consideration by the club’s board.

O’Neill has yet to sign his new two year deal with the FAI although he and the association’s chief executive agreed it in principle three months ago but he is not believed to come under any pressure to put pen to paper as the team does not have a friendly game until March. Even the draw for the Nations League does not take place for another couple of weeks.

It is not clear whether Stoke, who are also widely understood to be considering Derby boss Gary Rowett and a number of other potential candidates, might see O'Neill as a long term appointment or simply someone to generate an improvement over the rest of this season but if the latter is the case it is not entirely out of the question that the FAI might agree to him taking the role on until the summer.

At 65, O'Neill's age might be seen as counting against him although Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce, both of whom have landed jobs since the start of the season are 70 and 63 respectively. The northerner enjoyed considerable success when in charge of Leicester City and Celtic and was regarded to be doing well at Aston Villa when he left but his last club job was Sunderland which ended in the sack in March 2013 with the team battling relegation.