Who will replace Sly Bailey as Trinity Mirror CEO? The Drum looks at the contenders

But industry sources have told The Drum that Hollinshead is just one of a number of possible candidates for the role, with Trinity Mirror's finance director, Vijay Vaghela, emerging as another credible contender.

Looking outside the organisation, one source tipped Mark Wood, the chief executive of Future, and Slyvia Auton, who holds the same role at IPC, as names that could come under consideration among the corridors of power at Trinity.

Auton would be an ironic choice having taken over from Bailey at IPC when she was headhunted by the Mirror.

A more leftfield decision would be to look overseas and Sweden-based Modern Times Group - the originators of Metro International - could offer up an interesting candidate.

And John Paton, one of the hot names in the US newspaper industry after transforming Media News Group into Digital First, could be in the frame as Trinity looks to improve its digital fortunes.

Five contenders for the top job at Trinity

• Vijay Vaghela is currently finance director. He has undoubtedly done a great job dealing with the group’s major challenges namely, debt and pensions. Does he have the experience to address the now more pressing challenge of strategic growth?
• Mark Hollinshead is managing director of all TM Nationals, having previously been managing director of the Daily Record. He recently merged TM’s Scottish national titles with their local S&UN titles to create Media Scotland. He has demonstrated the ability to deliver strong profits against a background of steep revenue declines. In addition, his natural home is in business development, with a background in marketing, and a strong track record in initiating new product ventures. He knows the national, regional, print and digital businesses.
• Mark Wood, chief executive of Future plc, offers the attraction of multi-media publishing and journalistic experience having been chief executive of ITN before joining Future. A major attraction will be Future’s generation of 44% of advertising from digital, with a growth rate of 37%. 5% of total revenue comes from iPad apps.
• Slyvia Auton, as CEO at IPC, would be an ironic choice, having taken over from Sly Bailey. Her international experience with Time Warner and Time Magazine might be instructive.
• John Paton is the talk of the US newspaper industry, having transformed Media News Group into Digital First, with over 800 multi-media products.

Whoever takes the role will have to address falling circulations and advertising revenues and what one source described as "a wall of financial barriers".

An industry insider close to the company outlined some of the key challenges facing Bailey's successor.

They said: "The financial barriers have been well addressed. The issue of revenue development – both of core products and in particular new and digital services has not. The group assets have mixed blessings.

"The national titles have suffered over the years from the aggressive offensives of News International and DMGT, which have big pockets, a range of other activities to prop them up, and far less shareholder constraint. In the last year, the Mirror has grown market share of the daily sector. In the Sunday sector their titles have retained 150,000 of the News of the World sales since the launch of the Sun on Sunday.

"To-date the digital strategies have been mixed. Their big play is in daily deals, which looks a good bet at a time when revenues at Groupon have risen 89% year on year. But their newspaper sites are not performing well against their peers."

Bailey will stand down at the end of the year after becoming embroiled in a shareholders’ revolt over her £1.7 million pay package.