Kilmarnock: Allan Johnston to hold further talks over manager's job Allan Johnston will hold further talks with Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston on Thursday about the managerial vacancy at Rugby Park. The Queen of the South boss is due to return from a family holiday. "I'm still hoping to have someone in place for Monday when the players return for testing," said the chairman. Our pre-season training schedule starts the week after and it's important we have someone in place before that. Former Blackburn Rovers manager Henning Berg and Sheffield United coach David Unsworth are other candidates to replace Kenny Shiels, who left Kilmarnock last week. Former Kilmarnock player Johnston, 39, led the Doonhamers to Second Division title victory and Scottish Challenge Cup success last season. Johnston was interviewed by his namesake at Killie last week, as was Berg while Sheffield United have granted the Ayrshire club permission to speak to Unsworth. "We have a number of strong candidates under consideration, all of them possessing different attributes," said the Rugby Park chairman. It is always good to see the level of interest that we have seen in the managerial position at Kilmarnock since it became vacant. We have received 40 applications. Some of them have come from older candidates who have worked at some very big clubs across Europe but are looking for a change of scene. Others are UK-based and younger. They are just starting out but have good coaching credentials. Allan would fall into that latter category. Allan's only been in management a year but has proved himself by winning the Second Division championship and also beating Rangers with Queen of the South at Ibrox . He's a former Kilmarnock player, still lives locally and knows the Scottish scene. He knows how to work with a tight budget and young players and he's ambitious. We are looking for a long-term relationship but I know that ambitious managers will want to try it out down south. We have frequently seen managers move from the SPL to England. New Sheffield United manager David Weir believes Unsworth is "definitely a good candidate." "David is a very good coach," said the former Scotland defender. He's working at Sheffield United now and has all the right attributes to go on and become a great manager and coach.