FORMER England star Rob Lee has remained tight-lipped over speculation linking him with the vacant Cherries manager's job.

Reliable sources close to the Daily Echo suggest the ex-Charlton and Newcastle midfielder has already applied for the position.

Although Lee declined to comment when contacted by the Echo, the 40-year-old certainly has all the attributes sought by chairman Abdul Jaffer.

An up-and-coming young coach, Lee played at the top level for both Newcastle and Derby and has wracked up more than 800 career appearances.

He is known to be ambitious and has built up an extensive list of contacts during 23 years in the game. He is also a close personal friend of former England skipper Alan Shearer.

Lee spent last season on the books at Wycombe and his swansong saw him turn out in both legs of the League Two play-off semi-final against Cheltenham.

Capped 21 times by his country, Lee used his time with the Chairboys to develop his coaching skills and prepare for a possible career in management.

He left the Causeway Stadium following the departure of John Gorman and was linked with a player-coaching role at Gorman's new club Northampton in the summer.

Meanwhile, former Peterborough caretaker boss Steve Bleasdale is also believed to be among the applicants looking to succeed Sean O'Driscoll.

He was the unwitting fall guy of Big Ron Manager, a fly-on-the-wall documentary on Sky which followed the trials and tribulations of Posh with Ron Atkinson acting as trouble-shooter.

Bleasdale walked out on Posh just minutes before kick-off in a vital clash against Macclesfield last season, claiming Atkinson had interfered with his tactics and team selection.

Despite the speculation linking both Lee and Bleasdale with the post, Cherries chairman Jaffer said he was not prepared to confirm the identity of any of the candidates.

Jaffer added: "It would be entirely inappropriate and extremely unprofessional of me to comment on individual applicants or newspaper speculation."

However, Jaffer has all but effectively ruled out appointing a new manager who is already in employment, unless the candidate is exceptional.

He confirmed that Cherries had already received at least two applications from managers currently in jobs.

And while arranging interviews for these candidates could prove delicate with their current clubs, there is also a compensation issue to consider.

"It would probably mean paying compensation and we don't really want to go down that route unless they are the top candidate," said Jaffer, who confirmed he had now received 36 applications.

"The response has been very good and is giving us food for thought. A good number of the applications are really impressive and stand out."

Interviews for the post are expected to start at the beginning of October.