Dover chairman Jim Parmenter says it would be ‘silly’ to issue an ultimatum to new manager Chris Kinnear that he must steer Whites to promotion this season.

Kinnear and assistant Jake Leberl swapped Margate for Crabble following the board’s decision to place Nicky Forster on gardening leave and inherit a squad that sit third in the Blue Square Bet South table, though they have played more games than the sides around them.

Mr Parmenter (pictured) said: "There are no specific targets. You can’t bring in a manager with 20 games to go and say ‘you’ve got to get us promoted.’ That would be silly.

"We are third but that is a false position really – the recent form has been relegation form. Promotion remains our aim and the play-offs are certainly still within reach this season but we will have to see how things go."

Mr Parmenter revealed Forster was not aware of the emergency board meeting which decided his fate but added: "Nicky was the first to find out afterwards. There are clauses in the contract which will take some time to sort out but hopefully it will not go on too long."

Forster replaced Martin Hayes as manager in September 2011 and was contracted until the end of the 2013/14 season.