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Patience will be key in Herne Bay’s search for a new manager - with chairman Matt Barman hopeful the new man at the helm will be at the club for the long term.
Isthmian South East strugglers Bay will begin to consider applicants from this (Monday) afternoon, having advertised for candidates after last week’s sacking of ex-Gillingham manager Steve Lovell.
Barman, who took charge of the team alongside director of football Dan Tanner for last weekend’s 1-1 home draw against play-off chasing Merstham, will be in no rush to fill the hot-seat. He hopes the new boss remains in charge for at least three to five years.
Barman said: “I’m the chairman, first and foremost.
“We’re a community interest company and part of being a community interest company is ‘What’s the best decision for the company?’. So, we will make what we think is the best decision.
“That certainly will never come down to making a rash decision and getting things wrong.
“We need to get it right because, with the next manager that comes in, I’d want him for three to five years - at least - to take us to the next step. You cannot decide that on a quick phone-call.
Report: Herne Bay 1-1 Merstham
Barman: Bay’s players can be content with weekend display
“You need to get people in and have a look at what they have got.”
Plenty of managers have put themselves forward for the gig at Winch’s Field.
But Barman revealed he was yet to properly look at the list of candidates after the Merstham match, which saw winger Josh Reid put the home team ahead, only for the Moatsiders to equalise in the fifth minute of stoppage time through Lee Lewis’ free-kick.
“There’s been lots [of applicants] - but we have been busy, preparing the team,” he said.
“The decision was made in and around the club to sit down on Monday afternoon but, until then, I’ve not been focusing on it. I’ve not even really had a full look at the list at this point.
“I know there’s a decent number and we’ll try our best to get that down so we’re not interviewing from now until Christmas because we possibly could with the amount of applicants that we’ve had in!
“Then, we’ll make what we think is the best decision.”
Barman also commented on the departure of Welsh international forward Lovell.
He led the club to last term’s eighth-placed finish and to the FA Cup third qualifying round this campaign where they were edged out 1-0 at home by promotion-chasing National League South side Maidstone, as well as the FA Trophy third qualifying round.
Their league form badly dipped, though, and a run of seven defeats from nine games in all competitions prior to Herne Bay’s draw against Merstham has left them battling for Isthmian South East survival.
“I had a chat with Steve,” Barman said. “I actually looked at my phone for five minutes before I could make the call.
“It was horrible because I’ve got to know him and his family, but it’s sort of done now and we need to move on. We cannot get stuck back there, which isn’t disrespectful to him because he’s been absolutely brilliant, especially in the early part of this season.
“We beat Hendon and gave Maidstone a good game after our longest run in the FA Cup for a long time to get to the third qualifying round.
“We played Rayners Lane early doors (beating them 2-1 away in a replay following a 2-2 draw in August) - they’re a very good side - and Hendon and, eventually, we got knocked out by Maidstone through an own goal. So, we did ourselves proud and actually caught Maidstone just at the start of the curve that they’re on at the moment, which shows what the boys can do.
“We have had some tricky games in and around the Christmas period and we have got some tricky games coming up.
“Unfortunately, we’re in a bit of a dogfight. But what we need to do is show some fight and I thought the lads did that on Saturday.
“For me, there wasn’t a single player on the pitch who didn’t give his all.”
Bay are at Beckenham this weekend in the league before a trip to another promotion-chasing outfit, Burgess Hill, on Tuesday.
They can do the double over the Becks after they claimed a 1-0 win against them in November at home thanks to Kane Haysman’s goal despite captain Liam Friend’s sending off.