MOORS BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
THE next Solihull Moors manager will be tasked with leading the transition into full-time football – and it will not be caretaker Gary Whild.
Moors, entrenched in the National League’s bottom four, have had “more than 60 credible applications” after Richard Money resigned a mere 26 days into his tenure. Ex-Kidderminster Harriers and Redditch United boss Whild indicated he would speak to the club’s top brass before deciding whether or not to apply immediately after Solihull’s 2-0 FA Cup first-round defeat to Wycombe Wanderers seven days ago.
But Whild, who served as assistant manager to Marcus Bignot at Moors when the club first got elevated into Non-League’s top flight, has opted not to put his name forward with managing director Simon Hawker hopeful of making an appointment in the coming week.
Candidate
“We are looking for someone with experience and a depth of knowledge of our league and perhaps the level above,” said Hawker.
“It needs to be someone who can prepare the first team for being a part of our full-time operation as we are already asking the players to come in more often than twice a week. We are looking for a full-time manager because the rest of the structure operates that way – it is only the first team that has yet to migrate.
“The players have been doing more rehabilitation work and generally, we have tried to get them into a more regular mindset. We are fortunate that most of them only do football anyway, there are not many other issues to sidetrack them so they can work our academy staff even when there is no full first-team training.
“But when you have a part-time club, moving to full-time is not the easiest thing to do. There are difficulties so we are trying to do things in a steady, considered way.
“We have had more than 60 credible applications and remain very open minded about it. We’re not close to anyone yet. We are lining up interviews at the moment and hope to make an appointment in the coming week.”
On Whild’s position, Hawker added: “Gary was employed to scout and develop talent and ended up with a variety of different posts. We have been clear about what we want and were open to Gary applying, but he didn’t want the post on a permanent basis.
“His approach was very refreshing. It was not the role he was brought in to do, but he remains an integral part of our plans as a club and indicated he would be happy to do any role the new manager wants him to.
“Gary knows the club and we see him as a constant in what we are trying to achieve across the board.”