RELEGATION favourites Salford are set to look overseas for their next coach, with veteran Australians John Lang and Shaun McRae emerging as serious contenders to succeed Karl Harrison.
Reds football director Steve Simms will be in charge for Friday's home game against the Giants.
However, he intends his second spell as caretaker-coach to be as brief as possible.
McRae, who coached throughout the first nine seasons of Super League with champions St Helens, Gateshead and Hull, is keen to get back into coaching after quitting South Sydney last year.
He is due to arrive in England tomorrow to take up his old role of summariser for Sky Sports and, therefore, could start the job with almost immediate effect.
But former Australia Test coach Lang, 56, is also available and is thought to have emerged as favourite.
Like McRae, he was shortlisted for the Great Britain vacancy that was filled earlier this year by fellow countryman Tony Smith.
Whoever takes on the job will face an onerous task. Salford have won just one of their last seven matches, which culminated in the weekend 66-6 humiliation at Catalans Dragons, and are currently four points adrift at the foot of the table.
They will be without influential skipper Malcolm Alker for at least a month after he broke a hand and Friday's game against Huddersfield is followed by a trip to champions and current leaders St Helens.
Meanwhile, Harrison, left, said his confidence remained undiminished by his dismissal and he intends to stay in the game.
"The club has been good for me and I've been good for Salford," he said. "I haven't become a bad coach overnight.
"I will remain in the game. I'll use this as a springboard to kick start my career."
