"Gosh, if money wasn't a problem, you'd be straight after Jose Mourinho and then probably Jurgen Klinsmann," Socceroo 'keeper Mark Schwarzer told Sydney radio station 2KY.

"You'd try and get the best and Jose Mourinho obviously has been regarded as one of the best managers in the last four or five years at least.

"But I think from a financial point of view, that would probably be next to impossible."

Mourinho is too if many Socceroo fans' fantasy list of possible managers for the Australia squad after he was fired by Chelsea in September.

He took the club to two Premier League titles and won the Champions League with his previous club, Porto.

But he was on a huge salary at Chelsea and is more likely to want the coaching post with his native national team Portugal than a move to Australia.

Socceroo and Mariners' striker John Aloisi backed Schwarzer's call but admitted it was unlikely.

"I don't know if he'll take it because he's mentioned before that he doesn't want to coach national teams," said Aloisi.

The FFA are hastily drawing up a new shortlist of potential candidates after former Holland boss Dick Advocaat pulled out of the Australia job at the last moment.

Caretaker coach Rob Baan has put ex-Germany legend Jurgen Klinsmann in the frame as the only qualified coach currently available.

But other possible candidates include former Socceroos assistant Johan Neeskens, Asian Cup-winning Iraq coach Jorvan Vieira, former South Korean coach Pim Verbeek, Barcelona's Frank Rijkaard and long-time target Gerard Houllier.

In the FFA's favour however is the end of the current Euro 2008 qualifiers where countries which miss out on qualifying may terminate their coaches' contracts, potentially releasing more coaches onto the jobs market.

One of those could include former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink whose Russia team is struggling to qualify.

Schwarzer revealed a possible return by Hiddink was the talk of the Socceroos when they met up for the match against Nigeria in London at the weekend.

"You look at the teams in Europe and the positions they're in with their qualifications for the European Championships next year and you think about what coaches might be in a precarious position," he said.

But Aloisi, who has also backed Italy's World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, said time was running out for the Socceroos, who begin their World Cup qualifying campaign in February.

"It's very urgent because we've only got a couple of months really to prepare for it and most of those players that will be in that squad will probably have to come from the A-League," Aloisi said.

"If we're going to get a foreign coach, he's going to really have to take a good look at the league.

"He can't just watch one weekend, he's going to have to watch quite a few games."