Williams revealed the club have had a massive response following the departure of Mark Hughes to Manchester City. The process of sifting through the candidates began in earnest at a meeting of the Blackburn directors on Monday.

"There are over 40 names on the list," Williams told Sky Sports News. "It is a good list, a healthy list with lots of interesting applicants."

He added: "We will start work on Monday and see where we go. I hope we would have something within a week to 10 days."

Williams, however, refused to be drawn on whether former striker Alan Shearer was a contender for the role.

Shearer helped Blackburn win the Premier League title in 1995 and would appear to be the supporters' choice.

He scored 130 goals in 171 appearances before joining his beloved Newcastle a year later for £15million.

Shearer has repeatedly been questioned about his management ambitions, and while he has admitted he wants to return to football one day, he has remained non-committal about the timing.

He still has two years to run on his contract with the BBC and is part of their team covering Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.