Alan Pardew is set to ask the West Ham United board to back him in a bid to land Roy Keane.
The Corkman left Manchester United on November 18 and has yet to indicate his future plans, but his wages at Old Trafford were estimated to be around £90,000 a week, prohibitive to most clubs.
However Pardew, whose side were beaten 2-1 at home by United yesterday, has not given up hope of persuading the board to release funds.
Pardew told the London Evening Standard: "I'm sure there would be a queue of clubs interested in taking Roy, but if there was any chance he would come here, I hope we would try everything to get him to West Ham.
"We do have a wage structure, but for a player of Roy's calibre I would ask the chairman and the board to do everything they could."
