Cardiff City have made Ole Gunnar Solskjaer their No1 target to replace Malky Mackay, with Vincent Tan, the club's owner, optimistic that he can convince the former Manchester United striker to leave Norway in favour of the chance to manage in the Premier League.

Solskjaer is in charge of Molde but his contract expires in the summer and the club have been frustrated about the lack of progress with negotiations over extending that deal. The big question is whether Solskjaer is prepared to take a leap of faith and manage Cardiff, where the club's inaugural season in the Premier League has been overshadowed by off-the-field antics, culminating in Mackay's dismissal on Friday.

The decision was made less than 24 hours after the 3-0 home defeat against Southampton and only five days after Mehmet Dalman, the club's chairman, had said that Mackay would be "in charge for the foreseeable future".

With no desire to take a break from the game, Mackay has since emerged as a potential candidate for the vacancy at West Bromwich Albion, which it is understood he would be interested in after the Midlands club abandoned their pursuit of Pepe Mel.

After news of Mackay's sacking was announced on Cardiff's website, Tan released a personal statement in which he criticised publicity around the manager's future and implied that it was generated by Mackay. "Far too much dirty linen has been exposed to the public gaze but, I stress, not by me," Tan said. "Indeed, I have deliberately not responded to this, hoping that the club can be judged on its football rather than personalised arguments about who said what to whom.

"I have, however, regretfully concluded that it is no longer fair to the club, its players, its fans and the public more generally for this uncomfortable state of affairs to continue. Cardiff City means far too much to us all for it to be distracted by this."

While Solskjaer would represent a coup for Cardiff and there are suggestions that a deal could be close, there are doubts in Norway about whether he would be willing to work for Tan. Solskjaer has had opportunities to come to the Premier League, including with Aston Villa, but declined them. He has also referred to the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he played under at Manchester United, advised him on going into management that it was important to choose an owner rather than a club.

The other candidates potentially in the frame include the former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and Yilmaz Vural, the Turkish journeyman whose name has kept cropping up over the past few tumultuous weeks. Solskjaer is clearly the frontrunner, with Tan hopeful that the 40-year-old will be encouraged by the prospect of being given significant backing in the January transfer window.

The sacking of Mackay had been coming ever since Iain Moody was dismissed as head of recruitment at the start of October. Mackay's authority was undermined from that point and his position became untenable when he was issued with an email at the start of last week, ordering him to resign or face being sacked. Although that ultimatum was withdrawn after the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last Saturday, the announcement that Mackay would continue in his post was no more than a stay of execution.

Mackay, who was appointed in 2011 and led Cardiff to the League Cup final in his first season in charge and the Championship title in his second campaign, said: "I leave with my head held high having gained a level of experience that, upon reflection, I suspect would have been difficult to find anywhere else in British football."