AFC Fylde hoping to make managerial appointment by 'this time next week'

It comes following the recent sacking of Dave Challinor, who was axed at the weekend after a run of four straight defeats left the Coasters in the National League relegation zone.

It means Fylde are now looking to make a managerial appointment for the first time in eight years.

Speaking to The Gazette, Haythornthwaite said: “I’m hoping that by this time next week we will be able to make an announcement.

“We’ve been inundated with CVs and with respect to a lot of them, they’re not suitable.

“Some are people with a lot of experience but we’ve got two or three candidates that we’ve identified and are interested in.

“Those discussions are ongoing but you have to get permission to speak to people first of all and once that’s granted, you go through the interview process.

“I think with all these things you’d like to get them done as quickly as possible, but at the same time it’s a very, very important appointment.

“The last time we made an appointment we had a manager for eight years and I’d like to think we will be lucky enough to get another one who will stay that long.

“We certainly want to be making a long-term appointment, not a short one, so we will do all the due diligence and everything that is necessary to make sure we get the right person.”

Fylde are likely to remain managerless for this weekend's FA Cup qualifier against Peterborough Sports, although Haythornthwaite says they'll manage to get by.

“This weekend we’re going to bring in a couple of people to oversee the game,” he added.

“We haven’t got a natural youth-team coach or anyone like that, so with both the manager and the assistant going we’ve now got a bit of a void.

“But some of the players will get involved, some of the fitness coaches will get involved and we’ll cobble together a few people that are able to look after things.

“I’ll probably even help out myself.”

The Coasters’ approach for Barrow boss Ian Evatt was rejected earlier this week, the Cumbrians opting to go public with the news.

“I was disappointed a little bit that Barrow had chosen to go down the route they went down,” Haythornthwaite said.

“But that’s that now, but I won’t be making any further comment.”