Frank Rijkaard and Luiz Felipe Scolari are being lined up as high-profile candidates to succeed Sven-Göran Eriksson when he is sacked by Manchester City at the end of the season.

Eriksson will take charge of his final game away to Middlesbrough in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday week, when Thaksin Shinawatra, the club owner, will begin the process of attempting to find a “big-name” replacement for the former England head coach amid an expected backlash from fans appalled at the Swede’s treatment. Scolari has been touted as a candidate, but the Brazilian has indicated that he will put any discussions about his future on hold until after the European Championship finals this summer, when he is expected to step down as Portugal coach. Contact has already been made with Scolari via a third party.

That would leave City in an unwelcome state of limbo for two months and facing a second successive summer of uncertainty, but Scolari masterminded both Portugal’s quarter-final victories on penalties against Eriksson’s England at Euro 2004 and the World Cup finals in 2006 – as well as Brazil’s victory at the same stage of the 2002 World Cup – and was the FA’s original choice to succeed the Swede as England head coach before the appointment of Steve McClaren.

Thaksin, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, is also expected to give serious consideration to the likes of Rijkaard, whose position at Barcelona is in doubt, Guus Hiddink, the Russia coach, and Slaven Bilic, who has impressed while in charge of Croatia.

Although Eriksson has achieved Thaksin’s objective of a top-ten finish this season, the owner is understood to have told him that he is not the man to take City forward during talks on Sunday, prompting the Swede to inform his players at a meeting the next day that he would be dismissed after ten months in the job.

Eriksson, who has two years left on his contract, has said that he will not resign and is expected to receive a payoff of about £2.5 million, the equivalent of a year’s salary, although attempts were still being made last night to talk Thaksin out of dismissing him. City refused to confirm that Eriksson would be sacked, while the manager would not discuss the situation, saying only that “there are no more meetings planned until the season is over”, that he appreciated the backing of the fans and that he was “working very hard” to prepare the team for their final two matches.

Tord Grip, Eriksson’s assistant, was more forthcoming and claimed that Eriksson “will receive new offers soon, I’m sure”. Benfica, with whom Eriksson has had two successful spells, are thought to be keen to employ him.

“They [the owners] probably think that we haven’t done a good enough job. We believe that we have done well. It’s been harder after Christmas, but that’s how football works. Things will always go up and down and the Premier League is like a marathon. It takes time to build a team,” Grip said.

The disgust felt by the majority of City supporters was encapsulated by Noel Gallagher, of the rock band Oasis, when he described Thaksin as “a nutcase”. The lifelong City fan said: “He doesn’t know about football if he is going to get rid of Eriksson and the only thing that will get him off the hook now is if he has José Mourinho lined up.” The League Managers Association (LMA) was sufficiently concerned to release a statement yesterday raising the issue of foreign ownership that, after this latest episode, is expected to be addressed by the All Party Parliamentary Football Group, which announced plans last week to launch an inquiry into English football and its governance. “We feel the current situation reflects a growing trend of football club owners having unrealistic expectations and not giving managers sufficient support and time in the role,” the LMA statement read.