Former Chelsea boss John Hollins has emerged as a surprise candidate for the vacant Crawley job.

Hollins was among the spectators at the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday watching Reds move out of the Conference relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Southport.

The 59-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea and QPR midfielder made nearly 1,000 appearances as a player and won one England cap before managing Chelsea, QPR, Swansea and Rochdale, whom he left three years ago.

Since then he has worked in an advisory capacity for several clubs including Leeds United and Stockport County.

Reds will hold third interviews with three candidates this week before naming the successor to Francis Vines, who was sacked three weeks ago.

I understand Hollins is one of them and the others are former Northern Ireland international Jimmy Quinn, who guided Shrewsbury to the Conference three years ago, and ex-England international Luther Blissett. Quinn also watched Saturday's game from the directors box.

Crawley had to begin their search again after their original choice Graham Rix was offered the job but subsequently accepted an offer to take over at Scottish Premier League pacesetters Hearts.

Caretaker-boss Simon Wormull says he hasnt got a clue who the new manager will be and there was no official statement from the club at the weekend.

But Wormull thinks that he will take over a squad boosted by successive wins for the first time this season.

He said: "When the new man comes in he will find a buoyant changing room and when that happens then the performances of the players improve by 30 or 40 per cent.

"There is a real buzz in there now which was missing a few weeks ago.

"Ive enjoyed being in charge and I hope I've taken away some of the uncertainty players feel when a manager leaves.

"I've got no preference as to who the new manager is as long as I can impress him and make sure I stay in the side."