Canterbury City begin the interview process today (Thursday) as they seek a successor to recently-departed manager Dave Fairclough.

Chairman Tim Clark hopes to have the new man installed by the end of next week

Mr Clark (pictured) said: "We’re pleased with the response. It’s an extremely important appointment and certainly on paper some of the candidates look promising."

Fairclough put his departure down to a "lack of ambition" at the club last week and that prompted the club to issue a lengthy statement on their website explaining their position.

The statement said: "The board is resolute in its determination to move forward proactively as it seeks to deliver continued success both on and off the field."

There was also a reference to "disenchantment" from "individuals from one particular part of the club."

Mr Clark recently took the reins as chairman from Phil Knight and accepted that there would be hiccups.

He added: "It’s always difficult when someone new comes in. Phil was involved for a number of years and sometimes change for some can be disconcerting.

"The end of the season was a good time to change and it’s now a matter of managing expectations across the club in varying degrees and myself and the rest of the board need to be given a fair opportunity.

"We need to move forward and plan for next season."

The club are awaiting news from the council as to when, where and if a new ground would be built.

Until then, Mr Clark accepted their ambitions were being held back.

He said: "We want to move up the fpyramid but league rules say that you can groundshare for up to three years but you need a commitment that you are going to have your own ground so that is a crucial piece of the jigsaw.

"Hopefully we’ve shown ourselves to be a community club and we justify the council’s support."