COLIN COOPER is the front-runner for the Darlington job and it is likely the new manager will be installed before tomorrow’s FA Cup replay at Hinckley United.

Cooper attended Saturday’s FA Cup tie at The Northern Echo Arena, a 1-1 draw with the Blue Square North side, and that he watched from chairman Raj Singh’s executive box indicates he has an excellent chance of succeeding Mark Cooper.

The Northern Echo understands that talks are going well between Cooper and Singh and the chairman expects to have a new manager in place soon.

Former Rotherham United and Tranmere Rovers boss Ronnie Moore, below left, remains interested in the role, vacated seven days ago by Mark Cooper, and he too was a spectator on Saturday.

The Scouser watched the game from a vacant press box at The Northern Echo Arena, but Singh is unlikely to look much further than current caretaker Craig Liddle and Cooper.

Ambitious Cooper – Middlesbrough’s under-18s coach – is known to be keen on making the step up into club management following a spell last season as assistant to Peter Jackson at Bradford City.

Liddle, Quakers’ caretaker manager, remains in contention, but says he would have no qualms if overlooked for the first team role and will back whichever decision that Singh makes.

“This is the first time I’ve felt ready, or as ready as you can be,” said Liddle, who is the club’s caretaker manager for the third time. “But I’ve got this doubt in my mind and if something isn’t broken, then don’t fix it.

“If I was offered the job I would take it, but if the chairman was to offer it elsewhere, then I wouldn’t be upset.

“The chairman might have somebody to come in on Monday, I really don’t know.

Whatever decision the chairman makes I will back 100 per cent.

“He knows that if a manager was to come in, he would get my full backing, just has been the case with the previous managers. I’d work my socks off to help out whoever comes in and hopefully this club can change direction, have some success and one day get back into the Football League.”

Liddle has earned a reputation for being an excellent coach having produced a number of players for firstteam duty, some of which have since moved on to bigger clubs.

He added: “I’d like to think I can get the best out of players.

I’ve had success in the past with coaching and developing players, but you never know for certain how good a manager you would be until you do it.

“Everybody wants the challenge I suppose. There’s not many people in a position like me that can say that they can take it or leave it.”

Liddle made over 300 appearances for the club after signing in 1998 before retiring through injury in 2005.

But he is prepared for the flak, that most managers are subject to, if he succeeds Cooper.

He said: “I wouldn’t like to be slagged off and shouted at by supporters who have praised me in the past, but it wouldn’t bother me, it comes with the job. Once you step into the management role you know that’s going to happen.

“You know that one day, no matter how popular you are, one day they’ll be shouting for your head, that’s a fact.”

Supporters showed their backing for Liddle on Saturday, chanting his name from as early as the first minute, and he added: “The relationship I’ve had with the supporters since 1998 has been fantastic so I almost expected that backing and I used it to the boys in the dressing room.

“I told them that they would have everybody back on your side because 99 per cent of the fans, I think, want me to do well. That was fantastic for me and it gave the players a boost as well.

“My parting shot to the players before they went on to the pitch was that they have a lot of people to make amends with because they’ve let some people down."