Paul Clement is the overwhelming favourite to succeed Jaap Stam as Reading manager.
Stam parted company with the club on Wednesday morning following a run of one win in 18 league matches and former Swansea City and Derby County boss Clement is now the clear candidate to take his role.
Quickly backed in from 8/1 to odds on, the 46-year-old is now available at 1/10 with Mark Warburton (10/1) and Steve McLaren (12/1) the closest on the list.
And MailOnline are this evening reporting that Clement is “in advanced talks” and likely to be confirmed as the new manager within the next 24 hours.
The main link between Clement and Reading is that of chief executive Ron Gourlay, with the pair both working together at Chelsea between 2009-2011 where Clement served as assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti.
Although sacked by Swansea in December with the club bottom of the Premier League, he did keep the club up with a good run between his appointment in January 2017 and the end of that season.
His spell in the Championship with Derby lasted eight months between June 2015 and February 2016, where he was dismissed with the Rams sitting fifth in the table.
Meanwhile, Stam has spoken to Dutch media since his departure and had some fond words for Reading.
“We talked to each other in a good way and came to the conclusion that it would be better if the roads would separate,” he said.
“Last season we performed extremely well. We tried to distinguish ourselves in the Championship and wanted to take further steps this season, but that did not work out due to various causes.
“That is unfortunate, but Reading is a wonderful club, I really hope they will go well.”
