CRADLEY Town chairman Trevor Thomas says he hopes to be able to name the club's new manager next week.

Thomas has interviewed a host of candidates as he looks for the right man to lead the club in the West Midlands Premier League next season.

The new man will take over from interim boss Richard Forsyth in the summer.

Thomas explains: "We are close to naming the new man and hopefully we'll be able to do that next week after more successful talks.

"The plan is for the new manager to work behind the scenes to start with and watch what we have been doing under Rich until the summer.

"He'll take up the role in the close season and continue to build from there.

"For now we just want to finish the season as strongly as possible.

"We have a lot of young players in the side and we want them to keep expressing themselves and enjoying their football.

"We don't want to ask too much of them but it would be good if we could build some momentum. Our aim at the start of the season was to finish in the top six and that's still not too far away."

The Hammers saw last Saturday's league at Wellington Amateurs postponed due to the heavy snowfall and Tuesday's cup clash with Hereford Lads Club called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

They will look for more points when Wellington visit the Beeches this Saturday (3pm kick-off). That will be followed by another home league game against Shifnal Town next Tuesday night (7.45pm).

Cradley will have to do without forward Adam Meacham after his return to Lye Town.