That would see Fenlon appointed in time for him to at least watch Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie at Partick Thistle.

United confirmed they have asked for, and received, permission to speak to the highly-rated Irishman, who, over the last 48 hours, has become the clear favourite to succeed Craig Levein.

He impressed United chairman Stephen Thompson at a meeting in London and, having dominated Irish domestic football for most of the past decade, comes with great credentials.

His club have made it clear the man they regard as one of their country’s best-ever managers will not come cheap and they will seek compensation.

However, a bleak economic climate that has severely hit Irish football over the past 12 months mean claims Bohemians would hold out for almost seven figures are nothing short of ridiculous.

Severe cuts in budgets in the Eircom League could also work in the Tangerines’ favour. The lack of money has left Fenlon feeling he needs to move to a bigger league to continue his success.

United are confident they can afford him, though, earlier today, the chairman remained keen to stress he was keeping all options open, with Raith Rovers boss John McGlynn and former United man Michael O’Neill, currently gaffer of Shamrock Rovers, also linked to the vacancy.

However, at this stage, an offer being made to anyone other than Fenlon would represent a major surprise.

During that flying visit to London on Monday, United chairman Thompson also interviewed former favourite Billy McKinlay, who is still on the coaching staff at Fulham.

McKinlay impressed, but his lack of managerial experience means, this time, United won’t be moving for him.

Meanwhile, on the playing front, there is now “some light at the end of the tunnel” for Francisco Sandaza.

The Spanish striker, who has been sidelined with groin trouble, was able to take part in yesterday’s training match at Tannadice.

“Fran was able to play for about 15 minutes, although he did say he was feeling tired at the end,” said United caretaker boss Peter Houston.

“I am not saying he will be ready to come back in the next few weeks, but it was still a great boost for everyone to see him out on the pitch again.”

Fellow-striker Jon Daly also played for half a game after missing out earlier in the week due to illness.

Cardiff City have been linked with United defender Garry Kenneth, although the big Dundonian is contracted at Tannadice until 2012.

However, so far, he has played in only one game, a 2-2 draw against Dumbarton on December 16.

The Binos have subsequently seen their next three games cancelled due to the weather, but McKeown would not have featured in any case as he has picked up another groin problem.

“He’s gone there to get games and it’s frustrating for the lad and for the club that this has happened,” said Dundee boss Jocky Scott.

“He’ll be there for a few weeks yet and we’ll just have to wait and see if it settles down.”

The manager has yet to decide whether or not to appeal Gary MacKenzie’s red card, picked up against Airdrie.

The centre-half is facing a ban for this week’s Scottish Cup tie at Livingston.

“I’ve still not seen the video of the Airdrie game yet, but we have Kyle Benedictus who can play in there and Eddie Malone can also come in.”

Meanwhile, Jocky has spoken about how the recent deep freeze across the country has affected his squad.

As the players were enjoying a day off, the manager pointed to the difficulty in finding decent surfaces to train on and also how the weather had made life extremely tricky for those travelling to the club on a daily basis.

He said, “We don’t want to use the park to train on too much, because I think it is beginning to show signs of a little bit wear and tear.

“I think you saw that against Airdrie on Sunday, when the ball wasn’t moving quite as smoothly as we would have liked.

“That’s mainly down to the fact that any divots which came out were freezing up pretty quickly and that was causing the ball to bobble about a bit.

“That certainly doesn’t help us as we want to pass it about as much as we can, but it explains why there were one or two strange bounces during the game.”

Jocky also spoke of his fear for the players’ safety as they try to get to their work each day.

“The lads who stay through in the west and in the Edinburgh area tell me it has been much worse through there.

“That’s seen them having to dig cars out on a regular basis just to get out of their estates and that can be hard going every day.

“There’s also the worry that someone could have an accident with the roads the way they are.”

If Saints’ ActiveNation Scottish Cup tie away to Forfar is off on Saturday, the Perth club have another friendly pencilled in for the weekend.