Tricky Trees might not be taking the Mick

MICK McCARTHY, backed off the boards to be the next Nottingham Forest manager, had reportedly ruled himself out of the job on Monday.

The former Ireland and Wolves boss had been in negotiation with Forest's new owners over the weekend and by early Monday was as short as 1-12 with Ladbrokes to take charge at the City Ground.

But after the talks it was reported that the 53-year-old decided he does not intend to replace Steve Cotterill, who was sacked on Thursday.

That left Darren Ferguson, Gordon Strachan and Glenn Hoddle as the bookies' front-runners for the post.

McCarthy won the Championship title with Sunderland and Wolves but has been out of work since being sacked by Wanderers in February.

Dundee are 400-1 with bet365 for the SPL title after being invited into the division following Rangers' expulsion.

The Dark Blues finished runners-up in Scottish Division One and boss Barry Smith said: "It's not how we'd wanted it to happen but we're obviously pleased to be there. Now we've got to make sure we get new bodies in for the challenge."