The Coca-Cola League One club tonight announced the 38-year-old will be unveiled as the successor to Paul Ince at a press conference tomorrow morning.

Di Matteo has signed a one-year deal with the option of a further year and will take charge of first-team affairs immediately.

The club said in a statement: "Like the club itself, Roberto is young, ambitious and hungry to succeed. We are enormously excited about the team moving forward under his leadership."

Di Matteo is thought to have emerged on top from a list of around 40 candidates for the post, including Ian Holloway and Steve Cotterill.

Ince led the club to promotion last season before leaving to take charge of Premier League Blackburn this summer.

It is Di Matteo's first managerial appointment. He is best known in England for his six years with Chelsea before he was forced to retire through injury in 2002. He famously scored after just 43 seconds in the 1997 FA Cup final against Middlesbrough.

He also played in Euro 96 and at the World Cup in 1998. In all, he won 34 caps for his country and was named in Chelsea's greatest ever XI.