Roy Keane has been linked with the vacant manager's role at Nottingham Forest after Sean O'Driscoll was sacked on Boxing Day.
Forest had beaten Leeds United 4-2 in the lunchtime Championship kick-off and are eighth in the table, but after five months in charge at the City Ground O'Driscoll was dismissed by Forest chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi.
Keane stood behind Leeds legend Peter Lorimer
Keane, who was pictured at the Leeds victory, played for the two-time European Cup winners in the early 90s under Brian Clough.
Despite his presence, Al Hasawi said on Twitter he had "made contact" with a Premier League manager and would be meeting them Thursday.
Al Hasawi claimed Forest would be "looking to bring in an ambitious manager with Premier League experience", adding "with the January transfer window approaching, we feel it's the right time to make a change".
Keane oversaw 2006 Championship winners Sunderland's safety in the Premier League in the 2007-08 campaign before he departed in December 2008.
He then spent just under two miserable years at Ipswich Town and has not managed since January 2011, instead acting as a pundit for ITV's football coverage.
Forest never won more than two games in succession under O'Driscoll and Al Hasawi cited that inconsistency as to why he had been fired.
"We have a responsibility to look to the future for this great club because we have huge ambitions for it," he declared.
"We knew when we bought the club in the summer that it would take time for the players we bought in to settle but that process has taken longer than we anticipated.
"We feel we have developed a really strong squad of players but are still searching for consistency in terms of team performance, underlined by the fact that we have not won more than two games in succession in the Championship this season."