WREXHAM expect to announce their new manager next week.

Interviews and top level talks, involving the club’s owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, have been ongoing for three weeks as the club look for their perfect candidate.

The board has whittled down all the applications and drawn up a shortlist.

The club’s Executive Director Humphrey Ker, writing in his exclusive Leader column, said: “Things are proceeding to the plan we set out from the start and the thorough process we've been going through has continued this week.

“I know fans are desperate to discover who the next Reds' manager will be.

“We now have a shortlist and expect to make an announcement on who the next manager will be next week.

“By doing that, it will again be part of the plan that will then tie in with the player recruitment phase.”

Hartlepool boss Dave Challinor, who led Pools back to the Football League last week after a penalty shoot-out play-off win against Torquay, has responded to speculation linking him with the Wrexham job.

Challinor is the 4/6 favourite to land the Reds' manager's role.

“There has been speculation over the past two months in terms of different jobs for me and it’s great to be linked but I haven’t had a phone call off any single football club," the former Fylde and Colwyn Bay manager told the Hartlepool Mail.

Challinor is contracted at Victoria Park until next summer but chairman Raj Singh wants to tie the ex-Tranmere defender down to a longer deal at the club.