WREXHAM want a new manager by the middle of next week with the recruitment process well underway.

A handful of applicants have already been interviewed as the club search for a permanent successor to Bryan Hughes, with that process currently ongoing.

Dean Keates is the 8/11 favourite to return to the Reds’ hotseat ahead of Andy Morrison (2/1) and former Aldershot boss Gary Waddock, who has been backed into 7/2 overnight.

The new manager could be unveiled as early as today, but the club are working to bring someone in by Wednesday at the latest with Brian Flynn in caretaker charge for tomorrow’s trip to Woking regardless of developments.

While fans will be eager to see a new man come in through the door at The Racecourse, so too will the players with captain Shaun Pearson eager to move forward.

“This is the first time, for negative results, we’ve had a change of manager, so that’s obviously not good,” said Pearson.

“It’s not good for a club when you are constantly on the lookout for a manager. I know it’s not been helped by people being cherry picked, so to speak, but it’s frustrating and it’s difficult to keep churning out managers.

“If they name a new manager this week or next week, that will be seven different people in charge in just over two years, which is not healthy.”

Pearson, who in “an ideal world” would have liked the new man in place for tomorrow’s trip to Woking, added: “We need someone to come in and stamp their authority and get the group organised.

“If we don’t get a couple of results soon then the season is halfway through and we will be in a relegation fight. It needs sorting as soon as possible.”

Pearson was brought to Wrexham by Keates in May 2017, and the central defender would welcome his former boss back to The Racecourse.

“He brought me to the club and I have a good relationship with Dean Keates,” said Pearson.

“If it was to be him I’d be more than happy, but it’s not for me to make those decisions and we will see what happens.”