Thaksin Shinawatra

CITY'S hunt for an executive chairman to take over some of Thaksin Shinawatra's work is back on after their preferred candidate Ivan Gazidis turned down the job.

Manchester-educated Oxford University soccer blue Gazidis, 43, is deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer in the United States, and was understood to be reluctant to relocate his family from Connecticut.

A specialist firm working for the Blues had spent months looking for the right candidate to fill the new post.

The role has been created to take some of the work off Shinawatra (pictured) and chief executive Alistair Mackintosh as City expand their interests globally through academies and partnerships with foreign clubs.