Town Chairman Andrew Fitton admits the search for a successor to Maurice Malpas has already started at The County Ground.

Fitton addressed a lunchtime press conference in the Chairman's Suite and offered his thoughts on the search for a new man to lead The Robins into 2009.

"We won't be pulling a rabbit out of the hat today, that's for sure. Harry Redknapp won't be arriving outside in a car I can tell you that," Fitton said.

"You can't keep secrets in this business and we had not spoken to any potential candidates before the decision was made that Maurice would go.

"I don't want to be a hostage to this, but I don't expect it to be a long process as far as finding a successor goes.

"There are a number of good managers out there with proven records who could be available. There are some good people out there and we will certainly be looking to talk to them - the phone has already started ringing," Fitton added.