The inclusion of Wilson, who is apparently the frontrunner, is no real surprise. He's a former Saints player, has a good record working with youngsters at Rangers and Scotland and seems keen to step up from reserve team coach at Ibrox to first team manager at Saints. It would certainly be the change of direction the board seem to want, but previous youth team coaches at the Old Firm who have gone into management in the last few years haven't exactly set the heather alight in the lower leagues.
Balmer's name apparently being on the list is a bit more of a surprise considering he's still part of the coaching staff at Saints - and was supposedly one of the staff members issued with a redundancy notice last week! That he is on the list and Millen is not is even more confusing, although apparently Millen has ruled himself out of the running. Mixu ruled himself in, but it would seem the board aren't interested.
So, who are the other three names on the list (if it exists)? Willie McStay would be a fairly obvious choice as he's basically Wilson's equivalent at Celtic, although he also has some managerial experience. However, his future depends on what happens to Neil Lennon at Celtic. John Hartson is also thought to be in the running, and for an outside bet I'll go for former Rangers player Arthur Newman, who seems to have popped up on the messageboards recently.
Today's papers also suggest a takeover from the Maxi Group could be close and could even be announced as early as next week.
Story source: The Sun.