READING FC boss Steve Clarke has emerged a surprise contender for the vacant manager's job at Championship rivals Fulham.

Odds on the 52-year-old leaving Madejski Stadium for Craven Cottage tumbled this morning from 25/1 to 4/1 with Bet Victor. He is currently 5/2 with Sky Bet and Paddy Power.

Clarke, who was also linked with Sunderland earlier this year, has 18 months remaining on his contract with the Royals.

It is rumoured he is on a three-man shortlist to replace sacked Fulham boss Kit Symons along with ex-Leicester City and Southampton manager Nigel Pearson plus Exeter City's highly-rated Paul Tisdale.

Reading are likely to fightback any approach from Fulham after giving Clarke significant financial backing in the summer when he signed 11 new players.

Royals got their Championship campaign off to a blistering start and they climbed as high as second in the table before a recent run of five matches without a win saw them drop to eighth.

It is thought Clarke has no interest in leaving Reading at this stage, though he does have strong links with that part of London, having been Jose Mourinho's assistant at Chelsea between 2004-2008.

He then joined West Ham as Gianfranco Zola's assistant, spent 18 months at Liverpool alongside Kenny Dalglish before taking on his first job as manager at West Brom in 2012.

Clarke replaced Nigel Adkins as manager of Reading FC in December 2014 shortly after the club was taken over by a Thai consortium.

Former Watford boss Slavisa Jokanovic and Burton Albion's Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink are also in the running for the Fulham job.

Meanwhile, Reading FC are being linked with non-league duo Dan Sweeney, 21, of Dulwich Hamlet and Tower Hamlets youngster, Randell Williams.