CITY would face competition to land bookies’ favourite Mark Warburton.

The club are this week expected to unveil their choice for the hot-seat role, which has been vacant since Simon Grayson walked away a fortnight ago.

Warburton remains the top tip with the bookmakers – and has been backed in to evens after taking nearly half the bets for the Valley Parade job.

But the Telegraph & Argus understands there are several potential obstacles in the way of securing the 55-year-old.

Warburton is eager to get back into management after being sacked by Nottingham Forest on New Year’s Eve.

The City position is known to interest him and he would tick a lot of the boxes that chairman Edin Rahic is looking for as the next head coach. Warburton knows the sporting director role well and he also helped set up the NextGen Series, an under-19 club cup competition.

But he would ideally like to stay in the Championship and available jobs at Ipswich and newly-relegated Swansea are on his radar.

If he did decide to drop into League One, there is also the manager’s position at Barnsley to compete with.

Warburton is unlikely to come cheap. His last three jobs at Brentford, Rangers and Forest have also involved assistant David Weir and head of football Frank McParland and he would expect to bring them to any club he joins.

Former Peterborough boss Grant McCann is understood to be very keen on the City role and believes the club’s philosophy under the German owners would suit his own.

Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony tweeted over the weekend that McCann is a “man in demand”.

MacAnthony said: “He has three potential jobs to decide over. His next club will be the one who sees the best of him in my opinion.”

Ian Cathro is another name being closely linked with Valley Parade as fans wait impatiently for an appointment.

City are remaining tight-lipped over candidates, although they are well aware it is a matter of urgency as recruitment plans get underway for next season. The retained list was announced on Thursday.

A club spokesman said: “We don’t want to comment on any of the names linked to the job out of respect for the individuals involved.”