Paul Hartley, the Dundee manager, has emerged as the surprise frontrunner to take over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff City. After a day of talks following consecutive home defeats and a disappointing start to the season, Cardiff are likely to announce on Thursday that Solskjaer has parted company by mutual consent.

The Championship club, who are away to Derby on Saturday, are keen to make a quick appointment and it is understood that Hartley’s name is high on their list. The former Scotland international, who took over at Dundee in February, is the bookmakers’ favourite and is in contention, along with Tony Pulis, who left Crystal Palace in August, and Karl Robinson, the manager of MK Dons.

Dave Jones, the former Cardiff manager, and Craig Bellamy, who finished his playing career with the club last season, could yet come under consideration.

Solskjaer’s fate was sealed by the 1-0 defeat at home against Middlesbrough on Tuesday – a result that left Cardiff in 17th place, with eight points from seven games.

It is understood that Solskjaer met Mehmet Dalman, Cardiff’s chairman, for crisis talks on Wednesday and that lawyers have been working on a settlement figure in relation to the Norwegian’s 12-month rolling contract.

Appointed as Malky Mackay’s successor at the turn of the year, when Cardiff were 17th in the Premier League, Solskjaer lost 12 of his 18 top-flight games in charge and was unable to prevent the club from being relegated.

Vincent Tan blamed Mackay for Cardiff’s fall and vowed to give Solskjaer the financial backing in the transfer market to win promotion at the first time of asking. The Cardiff owner stayed true to his promise – Solskjaer signed nine players this summer – but a run of one point from a possible 12 and home defeats against Norwich and Middlesbrough in four days, made the former Manchester United striker’s position untenable.