A PLEA has gone out for Blackpool soccer fans to support and be patient with the club in its search for a new management team.

Former boss Gary Megson quit Bloomfield Road on Tuesday (July 1) to take over at Stockport County despite last-ditch attempts by chairman Vicki Oyston and the board to persuade him to stay.

Now, they are promising to have his successor in place as quickly as possible.

The vacancy is being advertised in the national press today (July 3) and several candidates have already called to register their interest in the job.

Managing director Gill Bridge said: "It is difficult to say how long it will take - in an ideal world we would like to appoint someone tomorrow.

"We are asking the fans to get behind the club at what is a difficult time for all of us and understand we are doing our best to find a new manager."

In the meantime, training sessions will be run by coach Mike Davies and youth team manager Alan Crawford.

Megson's decision to quit, along with his number two Mike Phelan, came as a shock to the club.

Gill explained: "Gary was very much part of our long-term plans and had been given an extension to his contract.

"We received notification from Stockport in the early afternoon that they wanted to talk to him and by tea-time Gary had decided to go."

She added the club would be seeking compensation from Stockport as Megson was still under contract.

The former Norwich City boss took over at the beginning of last season and despite a shaky start, which included being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Hednesford Town and a humiliating defeat by arch-rivals Preston live on Sky television, led the team to the brink of the play-offs.

Fans are being reminded of a special offer when they buy tickets for the pre-season friendlies against Man City (July 16), Bradford (July 19) and Rochdale (July 23) in advance.

Prices for the Rochdale match will be £3 for the stands and £2 for the paddocks when tickets for all three matches are bought in one go.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.