Mike Phelan ready to take next step up ladder by taking permanent charge at Hull City

The 53-year-old, whose side continued their bright start to the season with a 1-1 draw at Burnley, is into his eighth week in temporary charge at the KCOM Stadium.

Talks stalled last week over Phelan succeeding Steve Bruce with his representatives revealing the two parties were “still wide apart” but he hopes progress can be made before Arsenal’s visit on Saturday.

“There is nothing arranged,” replied Phelan to The Yorkshire Post when asked if further talks were planned.

“I haven’t got it in my diary or anything like that. But I am hoping – and I am sure it will happen – I get a phone call and then sit down over a couple of coffees, to get the relationship up and running.

“All through my playing and coaching career, I have always wanted to move up the ladder. You always fancy the next step. I am in caretaker charge and the next step is management.”

Phelan’s case was strengthened by an impressive display in Saturday’s visit to the club where his football career began as a teenager.

“I love this place,” he added after Robert Snodgrass’s dramatic late leveller had cancelled out Steven Defour’s opener at Turf Moor. “I nearly wore a claret tie, but didn’t think I would get away with it.

“But it is a tough place to come. Each time I have come back, I haven’t been as successful as I would have liked. We lost here at Manchester United (when Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant) and the same with Norwich.”

City were boosted by five of their six signings in the last 36 hours of the transfer window being on the bench for the Premier League encounter, Diumerci Mbokani being the odd one out due to Phelan believing the striker’s fitness would be better served by an extra two days training.

Phelan added: “The whole point of the window was we were short in numbers and it was important we got players into this club.

“We have got a bit of quality now and the bench helped us get through 95 minutes against Burnley. We hadn’t had that in previous games.

“It is important at this level to have options. I didn’t change the team because the players had done nothing wrong before the break. It was a case of using the substitutes to spur them on even more. Now, they are looking over their shoulders because there is a bit of quality there.”

Match report: Page 5