Chris Hutchings faces the most bizarre of auditions if he is to succeed Paul Jewell as manager of Derby County. The former Wigan Athletic manager will take charge for the contrasting matches against Forest Green Rovers, the struggling Blue Square Premier side, and Manchester United, the English, European and world champions.

Derby play Forest Green at the latter’s New Lawn Stadium in the FA Cup third round on Saturday and take on United in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final at Pride Park a week tomorrow. Victories in both could enhance Hutchings’s hopes of promotion from caretaker manager to a full-time appointment.

“We are looking for Chris to buy us some time,” Adam Pearson, the Derby chairman, said yesterday. “But if he gets some good performances and results, he will put himself in the frame. He is a very positive coach, the players have got immense respect for him and he has got an opportunity now.”

Conversely, if Derby find themselves on the wrong end of a Cup upset against Forest Green and are soundly beaten by United, rendering the second leg at Old Trafford meaningless, Hutchings’s prospects would fall. “We have a good group of players,” Pearson said. “It is up to Chris to get that bit extra out of them that we have not been getting recently.”

Whatever the results, Hutchings could face competition from Nigel Clough, the manager of Burton Albion, the Blue Square Premier leaders. Clough has long lived in the shadow of his father, Brian, the legendary former Nottingham Forest and Derby manager, but is regarded highly in his own right.

Jewell resigned on Sunday night after Derby’s 1-0 home defeat by Ipswich Town, his 50th league match in charge. He failed to save the club from relegation from the Barclays Premier League last season and he left his side after a run of only one win in nine games in the Coca-Cola Championship and only five points above the relegation zone. “Paul feels that he is no longer in a position to take the club forward,” a club statement said.