Pompey set to play waiting game for boss

Pompey aren't expected to make an imminent managerial appointment.

David Lampitt has stated the Blues are still prepared to play the waiting game to find Steve Cotterill’s successor.

Lampitt has revealed the ongoing process of finding the right man to take the club forward.

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The Pompey chief-executive explained a number of key criteria have been laid down with the club’s owners for the new boss to fulfil.

An understanding of the Fratton faithful and the manager’s approach to playing the game both figure prominently.

And Lampitt revealed the club are still in no rush to finish that process.

He said: ‘It’s going well and it’s known we had a lot of interest in the position.

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‘We’ve still got a process to go through in terms of identifying the right man for us.

‘That’s against the criteria we’ve set out and feel is most important for the club.

‘So it’s proceeding nicely but we aren’t quite ready to make an announcement yet.

‘There’s not an identikit. Every manager is different.

‘We have an idea about the long-term basis in which we want the club taken forward.

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‘Therefore the characteristics about the manager, his way of operating, footballing philosophy and a number of criteria are things we put down.

‘We did that first thing before we put any names on a piece of paper.

‘We sat down and had about 10 key criteria we thought would be the most important things.

‘That’s how we have tried to measure all of the candidates in the process.

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‘We’ve measured them against the criteria we feel will be most important for the football club for the next three, four or five years.

‘It’s important we get someone who is a good fit with the football club.

‘They have to know what it means from the supporters’ point of view.’

It’s been 12 days since Cotterill made his exit from Pompey for Nottingham Forest.

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Sean O’Driscoll remains the bookies’ favourite after being interviewed for the post last week.

But a number of other names are still in the frame, with Lampitt explaining over 50 people have applied for the role.

The job of whittling that number down is something Pompey are steadfastly refusing to panic over.

Lampitt said: ‘I would say we’ve had in excess of 50 applications now – some of them to be taken more serious than others!

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‘But there have been a lot of very serious and credible candidates for the job.

‘The process of picking the right man has been key from the outset.

‘Getting the right man is more important for us than getting someone in quickly.

‘We have a good, credible and testing process to get what we want.

‘It’s the number one priority. It’s not that we want to take more time than is necessary but we want to get it right.’