PETER Grant is poised to officially take on the mantle of Cherries' assistant manager after agreeing terms on a new Dean Court deal.

The 37-year-old Scot signed a three-year player-coach contract with Cherries in May 2000 and has forged a strong alliance with boss Sean O'Driscoll following his elevation to manager three months after Grant's arrival.

Chairman Peter Phillips acted swiftly to keep the Celtic legend on the South Coast for the foreseeable future after his previous deal expired on June 30. And with O'Driscoll also in talks to extend his contract beyond next summer, Grant is set to put pen to paper in the coming days.

Phillips said: "We have agreed terms with Peter and he should sign in the next couple of days. We hope to keep him here for the next couple of years.

"Sean has one year left on his current contract and because we regard he and Peter as such a close-knit team, we are talking to Sean about extending his contract to have both of them on the same basis.

"Although Peter has been on a playing contract he has become a very important part of the management team.

"Because his playing contract was up we had to move quickly to provide him with a new management contract which means from now on he will have the title assistant manager.

"Peter is ambitious and although he is very loyal to the club I am sure he would like to try managing a Premiership club or a Scottish Premier League club at some stage.

"But for the time being he is very happy to carry on his work here and we are very happy to have him."