Michael Appleton is a strong favourite to replace Eddie Howe, writes Jamie Smith.

We’re over a week into the search for a new manager and if the bookies are to be believed, Portsmouth boss Michael Appleton has jumped to the front of the queue.

The Gollum/Jason Statham/Voldemort lookalike has also been linked with the vacancy at the Reebok Stadium, but Bolton have reportedly made an approach for Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman.

SkyBet are as short as 4/6 on Appleton now, with Crewe’s Steve Davis the closest competitor at 10/1.

This is the furthest the market has been split since it opened even before Howe left to go back to Bournemouth, although many of the usual names remain in the frame.

Owen Coyle is now at about 10/1, in the same bracket as Mick McCarthy, Paul Ince, Warren Joyce and Micky Mellon.

There is then a big gap to the likes of Keith Hill, Sean Dyche, Billy Davies, Graham Alexander and Karl Robinson, who can all be found at around 25/1.

Terry Pashley, following yesterday’s 1-0 win at home to Blackpool, is at 33/1 with Stan James, who are the only bookie to list him.

Another win at Bristol City could see growing calls for Pash to get the job on a full-time basis, so this might be worth a shiny pound or even two.

Burnley will carry out second interviews this week and it should become clearer who is in with a chance of taking the hotseat at Turf Moor, but for now we remain in the dark.

The bookies seem convinced the job is Appleton’s if he wants it, but anything could happen yet.

All odds are correct at time of publication and are sourced from Oddschecker.

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