Frank Lampard ticks a lot of boxes as Norwich City boss for former Canaries' striker and pundit Dean Ashton.

Lampard is believed to have been interviewed along with former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith, while Bodo Glimt’s Ktejil Knudsen is another reportedly still in the frame to replace Daniel Farke at Carrow Road.

No official announcement is expected until the weekend at the earliest, but Ashton can understand why Lampard is a front runner.

“Obviously Frank is the name at the forefront of everyone’s minds because of what he has done in his short managerial career,” said Ashton. “He is also a manager who has worked in the Championship and is very good with younger players.

"If you look at the odds it looks like Frank but I think there will be a few more candidates than that they are looking at. Dean Smith, just lost his job at Aston Villa but has got experience in the Championship and getting a team up and them did very well to keep Villa in the Premier League in that first season.

"He has a good pedigree and the way he worked at Brentford I think would be something Norwich looked at.

“But there are also other managers they would certainly look at. Knutsen has done an incredible job at Bodo, winning the league there with minimal resources. If you looked at the Bundesliga would be Edin Terzic, who is technical director at Dortmund but won the cup with them as an interim. He has Premier League experience at West Ham.

"That is very much of the Daniel Farke ilk.”

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Ashton, speaking to Sky Sports, believes City sporting director Stuart Webber faces a dilemma in sourcing Farke’s replacement.

“If we are being realistic it is going to be very, very difficult for them to survive in the Premier League,” he said. “So are you bringing in a manager purely to keep you in this division this season, or are you bringing in a manager that could have the possibly of then managing in the Championship and if so do you want someone with experience at that level?

"Are you bringing in a manager to continue the work they have undertaken at Norwich, in terms of developing the players they have, the faith in youth. All of these questions are up in the air, in terms of who they are going to appoint.

“It is not as easy as maybe other clubs who would just purely want to stay in the Premier League. It is bigger than that for Norwich. Is it a long term project or to try and keep them in the Premier League right now. That is the big decision they have to make.”