Tomás Ó Sé believes Maurice Fitzgerald has the qualities and personality to mould a winning team and withstand the pressures of being Kerry manager.
While names like Peter Keane and Jack O'Connor were bandied around heavily in the immediate aftermath of Eamonn Fitzmaurice's resignation, Fitzgerald has emerged as the favourite in the past week, with the Kerryman reporting on Wednesday that it was his job "to take or not".
Revered during his playing days in the often lean 1990s, Fitzmaurice was named Footballer of the Year in 1997 after a number of memorable performances, most notably in the final against Mayo, helped Kerry regain the All-Ireland title for the first time in 11 years.
He would win another All-Ireland medal in 2000 before retiring from the inter-county scene a year later.
Fitzgerald served as a selector with Fitzmaurice for the past two years and managed St Mary's Cahirciveen to an All-Ireland intermediate title in 2016.
"The rumours out there that it'll be either Peter Keane (Kerry minor manager) or Maurice Fitzgerald," Ó Sé told Game On on RTÉ 2fm.
"It was rumoured that Maurice Fitzgerald will be carrying Stephen Stack and Donie Buckley with him as a backroom team.
"It's a huge decision. It's a really important one to get right. You've a group of talented young players coming through. You have the likes of Kieran Donaghy and Donnchadh Walsh retiring.
"So that old team that I won All-Irelands with are nearly gone. Darran O'Sullivan is possibly one of the last survivors. The leaders that are there now are Paul Geaney, Paul Murphy and David Moran.
"Whoever comes in, no matter what backroom team he has, are going to be tough ask to gel everything.
"He's a track record. He's coached St Mary's. He has an aura, he would be a good fit. But I also think they need to get the full team right. It's not just one man anymore. It's a full team, a backroom team and they need to get it right.
"He's a down to earth guy. He's very good company and very easy to take to. You think he's a quiet guy but he's full of roguery.
"Certainly he has the respect of everyone in Kerry. I do think he possesses the qualities of a man that can take over a team and gel them.
"But there's plenty of guys putting their hands up, Peter Keane, Pat O'Shea, Jack O'Connor. They won't certainly be going outside of Kerry. Anything can happen in Kerry. There's names being bandied around at the moment.
"I haven't heard anything concrete but Maurice is apparently the lead man at the moment."
Ó Sé says the pressure has ratcheted up in Kerry in the last couple of years, a consequence of both the county's failure to win the All-Ireland title since 2014 and the expectancy generated by the upcoming underage teams who've just won five in a row at minor level.
"There is a kind of a pressure that's more than normal," he added.
"Everyone thinks that this minor team, and the success that's been there, is just going to flush itself through and there's going to be automatic success at the top.
"He's cool customer. But I think this is something he has never come across before if he did take it upon himself.
"He would have seen what Eamonn went through. He would have been at the coalface this summer in terms of being a selector. But when you're manager and the buck stops with you.
"Fitzmaurice got awful abuse. Certainly it'll be a huge step up. It's something he won't have faced before but does he have the personality for it? I think he does."
