Pitchero Non League

Gary Horgan

....moved to solve their managerial conundrum by offering the job to current joint boss Gary Horgan.

The former Chippenham Town defender was given first option on the role at the end of last week and has until tonight to inform the committee of his decision.

It is understood that while all parties were content with the way in which Horgan and Matt Robinson’s partnership worked at the helm in 2011/12, budgetary constraints mean that it would favour the club to have just one man in charge.

The new manager at the Webb’s Wood - whether it be Horgan or someone else - would be working on a reduced budget in Division One South & West and a sizeable amount of the clubs in the division are likely to have larger amounts of cash at their disposal. It is believed that the club’s expectation is for `Marine to secure an immediate return to the Southern Premier, but Horgan’s concern rests in whether he can convince enough of the current side to come back. Already Horgan has lost the services of Max Etheridge, who has gone travelling in Australia for a year, while Steve Cook is set to coach in Los Angeles for six months at the end of June, leaving Marine’s front line two men down.

Midfielder Rob Dean, who swept the board at the club’s end-of-season awards recently, has been subject to interest from Chippenham and is expected to talk to the Hardenhuish Park side.

Horgan, who is free to take either a manager or player-manager role, revealed there were certain conditions that would have to be met if he was to take the job on offer at the Webb’s Wood Stadium.

“If I could guarantee that ten or eleven players would return next season then I definitely would take it, but it might be that I have to rebuild the squad almost from scratch.

“Last season we got lads in from the likes of Highworth Town because of the level we were playing, but I don’t know how many you would get this year to make the step up.

“I think we could need as much as seven or eight players and even then, I’m not sure if that would make us competitive.

“I’m not sure if it’s realistic for us to finish in the top five.”

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