FORMER Ipswich Town striker James Scowcroft believes recruiting Mick McCarthy to try and save Ipswich Town from relegation would be a “good bit of business” by the club.

Scowcroft, who now works in Town’s academy under Bryan Klug, has given his blessing to McCarthy but also insists that the Blues could do a lot worse than look beyond his old manager, George Burley.

McCarthy is the current bookmakers’ favourite while Burley was the first to publicly declare last week that he wanted to succeed Paul Jewell.

When asked about McCarthy, Scowcroft told BBC Radio Suffolk: “I think he would work (at Ipswich), though Crystal Palace might be on his list at the moment as well, as he lives a couple of miles away from them.

“I think it (Mick) would be somebody worth looking at and if you could get him on board, I think it would be a good bit of business.”

Scowcroft described the sheer speculation surrounding the vacancy as “phenomenal” with a number of managers still very much in the frame.

He said: “I would have thought with any manager out of work, their eyes would have popped up when the job came up.

“It is a great place to come and work. The situation is not ideal, but the only way is up.”

Burley certainly didn’t think twice about declaring his interest on Thursday morning and Scowcroft believes his old boss would do well.

He added: “I certainly wouldn’t be against it. If you look at the job he did (at Ipswich), if he could do half that job now, he would be a great success.

“I think if he did come back, it would be a good appointment.”

* You can hear the full Radio Suffolk interview with James Scowcroft on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00z5hbw