Cardiff City manager candidate admits live on air he's open to talks over 'very attractive' job

The former Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End manager is fourth in the bookmakers' odds

One of the bookmakers' favourites for the Cardiff City job, Ryan Lowe, admits the post is "very attractive" and he would be open to talks if the Bluebirds want to speak with him.

Lowe achieved great success with Plymouth Argyle, earning the club promotion from League One, before taking the job at Championship club Preston North End.

He also enjoyed a positive spell at Deepdale and last season oversaw the club's rise to the summit of the Championship for a period at the beginning of the campaign. The 46-year-old left the club this summer by mutual consent.

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Lowe is currently fourth favourite with the bookies, priced at 11/2 behind interim manager Omer Riza, Chelsea and Real Madrid legend Claude Makelele and former West Brom and West Ham manager Slaven Bilic. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

When asked on Sky Sports on Saturday about being so high up the odds list, Lowe replied: "I can't say anything you don't already know, but what I will say is I think Cardiff City is a fantastic football club and very attractive to any manager who is out of work.

"They have a great fan base and are probably in a false position because they've got some quality players and they've got a fantastic youth system.

"It's an attractive job, not just for myself but I'm sure Gary (Rowett) is the same, and any other manager out of work, you'd be open to speaking to them, of course."

The Liverpudlian has experience of stabilising a club at this level, like he did up in Preston, and some would think he represents a safe pair of hands. Indeed sources have not dismissed his name out of hand with regards to the vacant post in recent weeks.

At time of writing, however, Cardiff do not appear particularly close to appointing a manager, with no general consensus having been reached by the club's decision-makers, who insist they are reassured by the direction in which Riza has taken the team during his three games in charge so far.

However that is not to say there is not a desire to appoint a permanent manager, because the situation could turn very sour and toxic quite quickly if results dip after the conclusion of this international break.

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Gary Rowett, a bookies outsider at 50/1 was also on the panel and asked about the Cardiff job, however he quickly dismissed the question and offered the rather unserious response of: "You're telling me I've got a chance?"

Cardiff sit bottom of the Championship after nine games and face two crucial games after the international break against fellow strugglers Portsmouth and Lowe's former club Argyle.