Dartford manager Tony Burman will lead the search for his successor.

Burman marked 10 years in charge of the Darts this season and the board have backed him to carry on for the next campaign despite relegation.

However, the 56-year-old has spoken several times about handing over to someone else in the near future once he feels the club is in better shape.

And it will be Burman himself who identifies the next Dartford manager.

Co-chairman Steve Irving said: "Within the next five years, or probably the shorter term, we’ll be in a position where Tony chooses his successor and then oversees things as a director of football.

"I don’t always like that status but it would work better at Dartford than many other clubs, where people are just parachuted in from outside and they cause uproar.

"As a director, moving forward, Tony will start that process of finding his replacement in the next two or three years."

Burman’s position on the board of directors has prompted some supporters, amid poor results for the last two seasons, to claim the manager is ‘unsackable’.

But Mr Irving said: "That’s not true at all. Of course he’s sackable but he’s done nothing to warrant being sacked.

"Tony, as the manager of the club, can only work with the finances we give him and I still believe that structurally, as the manager, he is vital to the future of this club within the next three to five years.

"Yes, we’ve been relegated but that’s not entirely at the manager’s door. We have to take responsibility for the financial side of things."

Read the full story in the Dartford Messenger.