Caretaker manager Les Parry keen to step down at Tranmere as Ray Mathias enters frame

Nov 2 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Echo

CARETAKER Les Parry admits he does not expect to be in charge of team affairs by the time Tranmere host Leyton Orient in the FA Cup first round next Saturday.

Chairman Peter Johnson may speed up the process of finding a long-term replacement for John Barnes after watching Rovers lose for the 11th time in 15 League One games at home to Swindon Town.

Johnson indicated in his match programme notes that the board of directors would not be “rushed” into a decision as they considered a number of candidates interviewed last week. However, Saturday’s disappointing performance may encourage Johnson to proceed with more urgency.

Parry said: “We have to try and lift the players now and that starts on Monday. I don’t know whether I will still be in charge next Saturday. Looking at it sensibly, I probably won’t.

“We have a job to do and until the chairman says a new manager is coming in, we have to get on with the task in hand. We will start preparing for the Orient game.”

The long-serving physio conceded the prospect of managing Tranmere on a long-term basis looked more daunting after Saturday’s fragile performance. Parry said: “I was disappointed with the way the lads capitulated when we conceded a goal.

“We thought they may be able to handle a setback and kick on again. That wasn’t the case.”

The defeat, the 11th in 15 League One games, left Tranmere deep in the drop zone, kept off the bottom of the table only by Wycombe Wanderers.

The candidates for the job could well include Ray Mathias, the club’s longest serving player and a former manager and coach at Prenton Park.

Mathias managed Tranmere during the 2002/03 season, when, with David Kelly as his number two, Rovers posted a club record 80 points in the League One campaign, finishing seventh.

Dismissed the following October, Mathias went on to form a successful partnership with Paul Ince at Macclesfield and MK Dons, then joined Ince in a brief spell with Blackburn.