MELBOURNE Victory director Ian McLeod is in the UK conducting interviews with a shortlist of three British-based candidates for the vacant Victory coaching job.

But the smart money suggests that club chiefs are more than impressed with the results gained by caretaker boss Mehmet Durakovic and his coaching team during the Asian Champions League campaign and that the ex-Socceroo defender is in the driving seat to get the job on a full-time basis.

McLeod, the managing director of Coles Myer, is believed to be talking to two English contenders and a third, who is Irish. The latter is understood not to be Roy Keane, the former Manchester United captain who was linked to the post shortly after founding coach Ernie Merrick was fired.

But Durakovic and his assistants - retired former Victory skipper Kevin Muscat and ex-West Ham and Reading goalkeeper Steve Mautone - are believed to be very much in the frame for the job. They are certainly well clear of any local candidates and it would take an application from a big-name overseas contender to not see them appointed.

Durakovic has taken charge of Melbourne in five ACL games and, aside from the first - barely 72 hours after Merrick's removal - the club has been unbeaten, winning one and drawing three games against Gamba Osaka, Tianjin Teda and Jeju United.