COLIN Calderwood has shown his keenness and determination to land the Ipswich Town job by flying back from his family holiday in Dubai to be interviewed.

By Derek Davis

COLIN Calderwood has shown his keenness and determination to land the Ipswich Town job by flying back from his family holiday in Dubai to be interviewed.

The Northampton boss, who took the Cobblers to promotion after finishing second in League Two behind Carlisle, is due back in England today and will meet with Ipswich chairman David Sheepshanks and chief executive Derek Bowden within the next 24 hours.

Calderwood, a former Scotland international, set off on his holiday last Sunday and was due to be in the Middle East for a fortnight, but as soon as he heard of Town's interest he made immediate arrangements to fly home.

The Blues were given permission to speak to Calderwood earlier this week and are keen to see him for the first part of the interview process as soon as possible.

If successful, Calderwood would be seen by the full board next week when they see the shortlist, of probably five candidates, recommended by Sheepshanks and Bowden.

If all goes well, the chosen manager could be appointed the following week.

If the Blues do not get a positive feedback from the meeting with Calderwood then they may turn to Carlisle boss Paul Simpson, who has won plaudits for turning United around.

After being knocked back in their attempts to land Terry Butcher, Phil Parkinson and Tony Mowbray, Ipswich have been busy digging out the right man and have made it clear that their profile is a track-suited coach, young in managerial terms and having already shown a good pedigree. They went for Calderwood after hearing he may be looking to step up a division and listening to recommendations.

Northampton chairman David Cardoza said: “It is inevitable, given the number of management vacancies there currently are, that clubs will be showing an interest in Colin. I can confirm that Ipswich Town have made contact and Colin has been given permission to talk to them.

“I expect the matter to be resolved very quickly so we can continue building and planning for our assault on League One.”

Calderwood was a stalwart of the Swindon Town side that won promotion to what is now the Premiership, although the Robins were denied the opportunity to play at the top level due to financial irregularities.

A £1.25million move to Spurs followed in 1993 and he ended his playing career with Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. In all he played 783 games, scoring 31 goals and he picked up 36 Scottish caps.

The 41-year-old was a reserve-team manager at Spurs before joining Northampton, working with director of football John Deehan, the former Ipswich Town striker.