WORCESTER City chairman Dave Boddy revealed that applications have poured in for the club's vacant managerial post since John Barton brought his five-year reign to an end.

Interest in the St George's Lane hot-seat has been strong over the last few days, with one enquiry made to the club within hours of Barton announcing his decision to City's players on Thursday night.

The club's board of directors are to meet on Wednesday evening to discuss the profile of the new manager they require to rescue the club from its current slump in Nationwide North.

Worcester's turmoil continued as they crashed to their third consecutive defeat on Saturday, losing 2-1 to promotion-chasing Harrogate Town with John Snape taking charge as caretaker boss.

Boddy has been pleased with Snape's contribution from the dug-out this season, and admits he would like to retain the player-coach in some capacity.

Interviews for the manager's job will start early next week and Boddy is hoping that a new man will be in place in time for City's home clash with Southport on February 5.

Boddy said: "There has been a lot of interest (in the vacancy). We've had about 10 serious telephone enquiries, some fairly local and others from further afield.

"John told the players about his decision at 7pm on Thursday and we had an enquiry about the job the same night. We've asked people to put it in writing. The closing date is this Friday and we will be assessing applications over the weekend with a view to making a shortlist.

"We will look to carry out interviews early next week. Ideally, we will have somebody in place for the Southport game. We can't rush the appointment just for the sake of it.

"Because of the speed things have happened, the board has not been able to meet to discuss what profile of manager we are looking for.

"It's a big opportunity for somebody and I think there's certainly something to work with. They will inherit a reasonable squad, but clearly changes will need to be made.

"What will be important is the character of person we are looking at. There is a strict financial criteria that we have got to work with and a new manager will have to understand that."

Boddy added: "There's never a worse time than when you don't have a manager. I've been at various clubs in the past and I know when they are managerless that it creates uncertainty."