Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric is confident he can recruit Neil Warnock to fill the vacant manager’s post at Fratton Park.

But Mandaric has also confirmed that he has approached Rangers about opening talks with their manager Alex McLeish.

Mandaric told BBC Scotland: “Neil would be top choice and we are well in progress with him.

“I also rate Alex very highly and I would love to have the opportunity to speak to him.”

“The reason we didn’t talk to Alex before was that we had information that he would rather stay at Rangers,” added Mandaric.

“But lately we realised that maybe we can make an effort to change his mind. We will see what happens in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Warnock has taken Sheffield United to second place in the Championship but is out of contract in the summer and has not been offered a new deal by the Blades.

The 56-year-old has refused to comment on speculation linking him to Portsmouth.

Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin was sacked last Thursday after Portsmouth’s disappointing start to the season.

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