'Really interesting' candidates in for Weymouth job - Paul Maitland

Vanarama National League strugglers Weymouth yesterday parted company with manager Brian Stock after a run of seven league losses left the Terras in 21st.

Sean O’Driscoll, who managed Stock at Bournemouth and Doncaster, has also exited along with assistant Louis Langdown.

And there has been no shortage of interest in the role, with Maitland admitting some of the candidates may not be suitable for the club.

Speaking to Echosport, Maitland said: "I've not seen all the applicants - my focus is solely on Dartford on Saturday.

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"It's a difficult one because there are some really high-calibre names in there but they're probably unrealistic.

"We saw this last time round. When you speak to some of these people, their expectations, they're not realistic to our model.

"(The board) know very much what they want and what we can and can't do and they need to act, in my opinion, quite quickly because we have 23 games left to make sure we're a National league side next year.

"At the same time, they need to be good decisions. There's a lot of work to do.

"A lot of people aren't doing much in their own jobs at the moment because this is a focus to try and get this right. 

"Potentially there might be a bit more pain to come for us all before we get to what we want.

"That's football. It's full of unbelievable highs and lows. Probably at the moment we're in one of those unbelievably low moments.

"To me, we can wallow in self pity, feel sorry for ourselves or we can roll our sleeves up and go to war - that's what we've got to do."

What type of manager are Weymouth looking for?

Jason Matthews, left, will continue at Weymouth in his role as goalkeeping coach Picture: MARK PROBIN

“Clearly, we can’t take the time that we took with Brian,” he told BBC Solent Sport.

“The phone hasn’t stopped. The emails haven’t stopped. There have been a couple that are really interesting and a few that are just not what we’re looking for.

“We have to remain realistic about things. We’re not going to be going into the Football League and taking a manager from there.

“There are not masses and masses of options that fit our structure and club. We need to quickly be clear about who we are after. In my mind, we need to have them in place before Boreham Wood.”

Asked if National League experience is a key criteria for the new manager, Maitland said:

“This is where the reality has to kick in.

“There aren’t too many National League managers out there that are out of work that at present would consider Weymouth as an option.

“Clearly somebody with management experience is needed, otherwise why replace a manager with (15) months experience with somebody with no experience?

“Somebody with some management experience at the level we’re at, or somebody just beneath it, would certainly be a box ticker for us.”