AFC Portchester chairman in no hurry to appoint replacement for sacked Mick Catlin

Chairman Paul Kelly revealed the unnamed candidate the club enquired about 'thought long and hard' over taking the role, but eventually decided to stay put in his current role

The Royals have been searching for a new boss since Catlin and his assistant Lee Molyneaux were sacked last month following a poor run of results.

They paid the price for four straight losses – three in the league and an FA Vase defeat to lower division US Portsmouth.

But Kelly insisted he is in no rush to appoint a replacement and wants to make sure any appointment is the right one for a club ambitious to progress to the Southern League.

Kelly says there has been 'third party' interest from 'good people', but he is still waiting to be contacted directly by anyone keen to take on the role.

‘We put an application out for interested parties. We had a reasonable response but nothing really that I felt was the right person for the job,' said Kelly.

'We did enquire about one particular manager but he turned us down.

‘He thought about it long and hard but decided to stay put, which is fine - I respect that.

‘I’ve had third party interest from good people that are still around the game locally.

‘I haven’t been contacted directly by them. It’s got to be done in a confidential way and, if anyone contacts me, it won’t go any further if they’re in a job.

'Names have been put forward to me but if there is interest then they need to contact me, but so far that hasn’t come about.'

Portchester's season has currently been suspended with England placed under a second national lockdown.

The month-long break has allowed Kelly time to assess things and not rush into making any decisions.

He has not ruled out keeping interim manager Marty Wallace - who guided Portchester to a 3-0 win over Blackfield & Langley last month in his first (and so far only) game in charge - in place for the rest of the season when it does resume.

‘I had a long chat over the weekend with Marty, Mark Dugan and Ammo (Jordan Hampson),' revealed Kelly.

‘Obviously, Marty is the interim at the moment and he’s got the coaches (Dugan and Hampson) with him. They’re quite happy to continue as long as I want them there, so at the moment there is no rush.

'We’ve had a bit of a break but hopefully we’re allowed to come back on December 8 and we’ll take it from there.

'I’ve got to have the right person in place, I’m not going to rush.

‘I’ve got good coaches in the likes of Marty, Mark and Ammo.

‘I know the right person but, like I said, people need to come to me.

‘I’ll respect their decisions if they don’t want to apply for the job if they’re in work.

‘But come the end of the season let’s have a look at it and see where we are.

‘Let’s see what happens. We might go on a brilliant run and they (Marty and his coaching staff) will probably deserve to keep the job.

‘But if we’re struggling then obviously I’ll need someone with more experience in.

‘At this moment there is no pressure on those. We’ve just got to steady the ship and start getting some decent results against teams who are around us.'

Tickets for Portchester's Wessex Premier meetings with leaders Hamworthy (December 12) and third-placed Fareham Town (December 28) at the Crest Finance Stadium have now sold out.