DORCHESTER Town remain open to applications for the soon-to-be vacant chairman position, incumbent Scott Symes says.

Stepping down at the end of this season after five years as Magpies’ chief, Symes admitted no formal applications have yet been received.

Symes stressed the club could continue to function efficiently without his successor in place this summer but hinted at a desire to appoint a new chairman before the 2024/25 season.

Should the impasse continue, under the terms of the club’s Community Benefit Society (CBS) ownership, a vote could take place to appoint a chairman from within the club.

READ MORE: Scott Symes to step down as Dorchester Town chairman

Asked how the application process was progressing, Symes told Echosport: “There aren’t any.

“It’s a community-based scheme, so it’s owned by its members. There is a process in place, if you don’t have a chairman, that you’ve got to vote one on.

“That comes from an existing member. If there are no dominant figures to come forward, there is a process that will mean the club will have a chairman, all being well, because of the way it’s owned.

“There have been no applications outside of the CBS process.”

Quizzed on when a CBS member vote could take place, Symes said: “You could do that, hold a quick board meeting, get the members out there.

“Say: ‘Does anyone oppose this? Yes, no, indifferent'. The current board get the final vote, it can be a fairly swift process should somebody put their hand in the air.”

He added: “Every organisation needs a figurehead, to be that person to go to. There’s other board members that might not want to be chairman but they know how the club runs and it’s in the off-season, which isn’t the busiest of times.

“The whole board knows how the club runs and what needs to be done on a daily basis. It’s not like it will fall over.”

Symes concluded with a message to any prospective candidates yet to come forward.

“Have a massive love for non-League football,” he said.

“It’s a business that you could come in and be a figurehead of. No business runs itself, but from a financial perspective, incomings and outgoings are very well documented.

“You know what you need and you know then what you can run.

“The club’s on the up. If we continue not just the run of form but the positivity and culture around the club, you can come in and enjoy a very positive start for the club.

“Whoever does come in should embrace that and enjoy it, which sometimes when you come into football isn’t always the case.”