KIDDERMINSTER Harriers are set to step up their search for a new head coach, writes Peter McKinney.

The club’s board of directors were set to hold a meeting tonight to look at the next step forward after Gary Whild and Tim Flowers left the club this week.

Chairman Rod Brown insists the club are looking for a coach able to work with the club’s younger players in order to mould the team.

With finances tight, they are well aware that a new manager will be unable draft in a host of new faces.

The club, who are winless and bottom of the Vanarama National League, are also mindful of their youth academy, which has produced talents such as Luke Maxwell, and are keen to continue developing players for the future.

Harriers had initially set a deadline for the new appointment by the next home game — against Welling United on Saturday, October 3 — but Brown admits Kidderminster will take their time to find their new man.

The chairman also ruled out former Mansfield and Torquay boss Paul Cox as a possible replacement.

Brown said: “The most important thing for me is the long-term future and stability of the club.

“We don’t have a lot of money at the club, so there’s no point bringing in a manager who will want to make wholesale changes.

“It’s important to work with and develop the young players we have at the club and also in the academy as well because I firmly believe that is where the future of the club is.

“We’ve had 25 applications already and we’ll have a board meeting tonight to discuss the next step.”

Cardiff City Under-21 coach Kevin Nicholson has been linked with the job.

Colin Gordon, who is football development director, has taken over first-team affairs in the short term. He was at the helm for Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss at Bromley, where Jordan Jones bagged a brace on his first start in the Vanarama National League with a brace.

"I was delighted for half an hour, we were in complete control of the game,” said Gordon.

“We were playing a brand of football that excites me, and I know the supporters have gone away thinking that we can pass and move and keep possession.

"Credit to Bromley, I’ve been in to their dressing room and said that they’re the best footballing side I’ve seen this season."

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