SPECULATION is rife as to who could be the next manager of Southend United.

Shrimpers chairman Ron Martin opted to part company with Chris Powell as boss yesterday.

And a whole host of names are rumoured to be in the running to replace him.

Among them is the experienced Steve Evans and he has refused to rule out taking over at Blues.

Evans has previously been in charge of Mansfield Town, Leeds United, Rotherham United and Crawley Town.

But it is former Shrimpers defender Adam Barrett who is currently the bookmakers’ favourite for the role.

Barrett made 354 appearances for Blues during his playing career and, having grown up supporting his hometown club, he remains a popular figure with the club’s supporters.

Barrett, who is now first team coach at Millwall, is 6/4 favourite for the role with SkyBet with Evans just behind him at 5/1.

However, the Shrimpers’ highly respected head of academy Ricky Duncan has been placed in charge on a caretaker basis and, as things stand, will be in charge for Saturday’s crunch clash against Shrewsbury Town at Roots Hall this weekend.

Duncan has helped to bring a number of top young players through the ranks and could now be given the opportunity to prove his worth at first team level.

Duncan is the third favourite for the role at 6/1 while former Shrewsbury and Ipswich Town manager Paul Hurst has also been linked with the role.

Hurst worked wonders while in charge of the Shrews and, after keeping them up, took the club to the League One play-off final.

That led to him taking control of Ipswich in the Championship but the 44-year-old lasted just 15 games at Portman Road.

Other names linked to the post include Gary Rowett, Lee Clark and Mark Warburton along with ex-Shrimpers skipper Kevin Maher, who is now the club’s under-23 team coach.

However, Blues chairman Martin has been unavailable for comment since Powell’s dismissal.