Does anyone even want the Liverpool job? Martinez the latest to be ruled out of the race

Liverpool are sure having a hard time replacing Kenny Dalglish in the Anfield hotseat, with Roberto Martinez the latest candidate to be ruled out of the job.

The Sun are reporting this morning that loudmouth Wigan chairman Dave Whelan – who had given Martinez until Thursday of this week to make up his mind – will today announce that Martinez will be staying on as Wigan manager.

Whelan has promised Martinez a new contract and a big transfer kitty to convince him to stay, thus ending speculation, fuelled by meetings with FSG owner John Henry, that the Spaniard was to succeed King Kenny at Anfield.

The red top goes on to claim that with Martinez out of the picture, Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers is the new favourite to take the job, although that would contradict claims from the club yesterday that no approach has been made for Rodgers, who himself refused the opportunity to talk to Liverpool a couple of weeks back.

The search for a new manager has the potential to turn into an embarrassing affair for Liverpool’s owners, who were determined to cast the net far and wide in their search for the new boss but by doing so have alienated managers like Rodgers who didn’t want to seen to be going back to Swansea with his tail between his legs if he didn’t get the job.

Martinez, Rodgers, Andre Villas-Boas and Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp have all been linked with the gig since Dalglish’s departure, but over a fortnight after Kenny was given the boot, they are no closer to finding a new man.

We're blue in the face telling them that they should at least consider Steve 'Stan' Staunton for the job, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears to date.