Former Norwich City captain Mark Fotheringham is open-minded about his next role in football after leaving newly-promoted Ingolstadt.

The Scot has been the assistant head coach to Tomas Oral at the German side, but both surprisingly tendered their resignations despite their play-off victory against Vfl Osnabruck last Sunday.

Although his spell at Carrow Road coincided with a difficult period for City, Fotheringham is regarded as one of the brightest up and coming Scottish coaches.

The midfielder made 76 appearances for the Canaries during a two-year spell at the club between 2007 and 2009. His spell at the club ended on a sour note after he was stripped of the captaincy after storming down the tunnel having been replaced by manager Bryan Gunn. He never played for the club again.

As a coach, Fotheringham has also been assistant to Gary Bollan at Cowdenbeath, but it is alongside Oral where he has spent the majority of his coaching career.

Courier Sport are reporting that Fotheringham was offered a three-year deal and increased coaching responsibilities to remain at Ingolstadt after Oral failed to agree new terms with the club.

Fotheringham worked with Oral at Karlsruher before joining the third-tier side back in 2019. City's former midfielder is still only 37 and has made little secret of his desire to venture into management, although he is keeping an open mind about his next role.

“I want to work with the best people in football I can. Tomas has been fantastic for me and who knows if we’ll continue to work together.

“I’m weighing up my future after our fantastic promotion success with Ingolstadt.

“Would I come back to Scotland? It would need to be a good offer and most likely as a manager unless it was an exceptional coaching role.

The Pink Un: Fotheringham is regarded as one of the brightest coaches in Scotland.Fotheringham is regarded as one of the brightest coaches in Scotland. (Image: Ady Kerry /AK Pictures)

“I love working in Germany. The standard of professionalism and the facilities are wonderful.

“But I wouldn’t shut the door on Scotland or even going back to English football," Fotheringham told the Scottish Sun. “I’ve worked hard on a coaching path and it’s important to me to maintain that progress.

“I believe I’ve got a great CV and there are possibilities for me to continue working with people of the highest calibre. I’m determined to keep on learning – and will look to either carrying on as a number two for a quality manager or I’ll be my own man.”