Colin Calderwood prepared to stay on at Hibs if clubs fail to agree deal

Although Calderwood admitted it would take only Petrie's consent to see him investigate job offers from both Forest and Birmingham, the manager was present at the Easter Road club's training centre at East Mains yesterday. A spokesman for the club described it as "business as usual" following Tuesday night's friendly defeat to Livingston, after which Calderwood admitted there was "some interest" on his part to return south, if a compensation fee for his services could be agreed.

Such a deal appeared to be no nearer being struck yesterday, although both Forest and Birmingham remain committed to prising Calderwood away from Easter Road and installing him as assistant manager.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, Birmingham yesterday confirmed they still had an active interest in appointing Calderwood as No 2 to Chris Hughton. "Nothing has changed from our point of view," said a spokesman for the St Andrew's club. "We are keen to have him here. We are just waiting to find out whether Hibs are happy with the compensation we have offered. The ball is in Hibs' court." A spokesman for Forest also confirmed that "nothing had changed - Steve (McClaren] would like to bring him here".

But the prospect of Calderwood remaining with Hibs remains a very realistic one, according to one well-placed source. It is understood that the manager is prepared to focus on the job in hand if Hibs do not want to let him go. "He wanted to be a manager and he is being a manager," the source said. "He could very well stay on."

Nevertheless, it is also clear that if either club ups their offer to an acceptable level of compensation, the position changes significantly again and Calderwood could still depart. But last night there was no indication that either club was ready to make such a move.

Meanwhile, while Hibs refuse to yield to both Forest and Birmingham's desire to speak to Calderwood, it emerged yesterday that Petrie has been forced to back down on one front at least.

The unusually expansive statement on the present situation at the club, which was released by the Hibs chairman on Tuesday, had become 37 words shorter by yesterday, after Colin Gordon, Calderwood's agent, requested that a paragraph relating to him be removed on the grounds that it was erroneous. The original statement said: "But then McClaren's words were probably spoken, not by him but by his agent. The same agent who represents Colin Calderwood. The mysterious 'third man' in the picture taken in a hotel lobby over three weeks ago." These words have now been removed from the record.

Petrie had warned McClaren that he was in "dangerous territory" with regards to his pursuit of Calderwood. Petrie reference to a photograph which had been reproduced on a Hibs fans' forum inferred that it showed McClaren speaking with Calderwood and Gordon, who also represents the Forest manager.

Where Petrie ran into trouble is that it is not Gordon sitting with McClaren and Calderwood in the picture, as much as it had seemed logical that he might have been the companion who Petrie described as "the mysterious 'third man'". Instead, the person making up the threesome is Bill Beswick, the leading sports psychologist and long-time colleague of McClaren. He has been appointed performance coach at Forest and is 13 years older than Gordon.

In the statement, Petrie quoted McClaren telling the Nottingham Evening Post that he was "trying to get Colin out of Hibs". The chairman reminded the former England manager that he should tread carefully in this respect, since Forest had made only one request to speak to Calderwood – back on 24 June – and that had been rejected.

But Petrie himself had veered into shaky ground with his contention that Gordon had been present with Calderwood and McClaren. He also suggested it was Gordon, and not McClaren, who had been speaking so freely to the Nottingham Evening Post. This was removed from Petrie's statement by Tuesday night after contact between the agent and the chairman.