EASTLEIGH have had close to 80 serious applications for the vacant manager’s job – including four “with experience of managing international teams.”

The ambitious Vanarama National League club were naming no names prior to today's 5pm deadline but, suffice to say, there are some high-quality candidates queuing up to succeed Richard Hill.

Forty managers with Football League experience have thrown their names into the hat and 15 applications have come in from overseas bosses.

“We’ve had a good number of applications from right across the spectrum,” reported EFC chief executive Mark Jewell.

“Some have been quite comical, but there are 75-80 that we’d seriously consider.

“Clearly we can’t interview everyone and, as of tomorrow, we’ll whittle it down to about ten.”

One name definitely in the hat is caretaker boss Chris Todd, who guided the Spitfires to a brilliant 3-2 win at Wrexham on Saturday.

Match-winner Ben Strevens revealed afterwards that Todd would be the players’ choice.

“We’re fully behind Toddy. If we’re completely honest, we want him to get the job,” he said, adding: “I don’t think there’s anybody better placed to take this club forward.”

Jewell said: “We want to take our time and consider before appointing. We’d do ourselves a disservice by pushing it too quickly.

“But, at the same time, it’s not fair on Chris to keep him hanging on too long. To be fair to him, he couldn’t have done better on Saturday. Even if we’d won 4-0, it still showed more character to have won it after Wrexham had clawed back to 2-2.

“Chris has given us something to think about and it’s not gone unnoticed the comments coming out of the camp. Ben Strevens has been open and honest with his views and sometimes you think ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

Eastleigh, who ended a five-match win-less run at Wrexham, are at home to Braintree on Saturday.

But, hand on heart, Jewell does not imagine the appointment will have been made by then.

"I doubt we'll be in a position to appoint before Saturday, so I'd imagine Chris will be in the chair again," he said.

"It will be a challenge (to decide on a new boss), but it's exciting as well to think that people of that calibre are interested in coming to Eastleigh."