Gary Abbott insists it is business as usual at Sittingbourne despite off-field confusion and says he and the players are “trying not to let it bother us”.

With the potential takeover by former Crystal Palace player Michael Hughes casting doubt over Abbott’s future, the Bourne boss (pictured) has revealed he expects a forthcoming meeting with chairman Andy Spice will iron out some details.

Abbott said: “I spoke to Andy on Wednesday night and he told me Hughes doesn’t want to be manager at the moment, but who knows how long that will last?

“Andy said he’ll have a word with us once the paperwork is done over the next couple of weeks and we’ll take it from there.

“I am just thinking about Worthing away on Saturday and what team we’ll be putting out. It is tough, but we’re trying not to let it bother us. It’s business as usual as far as we’re concerned.”

The Brickies slipped to 10th and eight points off the play-off places with a 2-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Leatherhead on Tuesday and Abbott believes a play-off place might prove beyond his young charges.

He said: “What an achievement it would be if we could make it, but realistically I think it’s too much now, we are too young. We just want to finish as high as we can, top-10 if possible, and I’d love to finish as top Kent club, particularly if we could finish above Faversham, with all their money, while we have none.”