New manager could be in place by Friday

By David Watters

Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne are hoping to have a new manager in place before they kick off in Ryman South at the weekend.

The fifth-placed Brickies travel to south London to take on Tooting & Mitcham United on Saturday and with candidates being interviewed this week, officials at Woodstock Park expect to appoint the successor to former manager Matt Wyatt, pictured, within days.

Sittingbourne's assistant manager Barry Crimmen has been holding the fort with the Brickies suffering a third straight defeat under his watch on Sunday when they lost 6-2 at Horsham in the FA Trophy's Preliminary Round.

Wyatt left the club following their 1-0 defeat to Faversham Town in the first round of the Ryman League's Robert Dyas Cup at the start of the month. He took charge in September 2013 after a brief but successful spell as caretaker manager alongside captain Nick Davis. Davis resigned as joint manager in July with Wyatt continuing alone.

Secretary John Pitts told kentonline.co.uk on Wednesday that he was concerned by Sunday’s display and knows the Kent club needs a new manager in place as soon as possible to build on their strong start to the campaign.

He said: "It was an unmitigated disaster, a poor performance that isn’t good enough at our level. I’m not blaming Barry – he can only pick the players he has available – but things can only get better.

"We’re interviewing this week and may have someone in by Friday. We’ve had interest from 10 people and are interviewing five. We’d like to have a manager in place by the weekend, particularly as we’re playing one of the better sides in the league in Tooting."

Image courtesy of www.kentonline.co.uk

Follow us: @rymanleaguenews on Twitter | Ryman League group on Facebook

The Pitching In Isthmian Football League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe