The 52-year-old is understood to be undaunted at the prospect of relaunching his career in the third tier after high-profile postings here and abroad.

McClaren has joined Kenny Jackett and Owen Coyle among a list of several contenders to be Dean Saunders' successor as chief executive Jez Moxey and director of football operations and recruitment Kevin Thelwell take their time to get the right man.

Wolves say their head coach must introduce a new and attractive footballing philosophy and integrate the club's homegrown players.

And McClaren is said to be excited at the prospect of building a club from the bottom upwards.

During his time in charge of Middlesbrough, he famously helped produce a complete team of homegrown players, all born within a 10-mile radius of the Riverside, winning the League Cup in 2004 and leading them to the 2006 UEFA Cup final, and would relish the opportunity to do something similar at Molineux.

Wolves are looking for the new man to be without a sizeable backroom staff and McClaren has worked alone in recent times.

But to choose McClaren, the Wolves board have to be bold enough to gamble on the former Boro boss's reputation, which took a battering and infamously saw him branded 'the wally with the brolly' after he failed to guide England to the 2008 European Championships.

He has since repaired his standing as one of the most progressive and innovative coaches in the game after taking Dutch club FC Twente to their first Eredivisie championship in 2009-10.

Advertising

After Twente, McClaren managed German side Vfl Wolfsburg from May 2010 to February 2011.

McClaren returned to Twente in January 2012 after a short spell as manager of Nottingham Forest.

As a coach, he led Derby into the top flight with Jim Smith then enjoyed huge success at Manchester United.

Steve McClaren factfile: