TOBY Redwood has urged Chippenham Town board to appoint a manager as soon as possible to ensure they stand a realistic chance of getting into the new Conference League Two next season.
Caretaker manager Adie Mings brought the defender to Hardenhuish on a non-contract basis two weeks ago and after two games for the Bluebirds, Redwood believes that a leader is needed.
He said: "The atmosphere in the dressing room is very low at the moment. At half time of the Stafford game the lads looked drained.
"A few people were coming up with comments that didn't really help and I think it is time to sort out exactly what is going on with regards to a manager.
"We either need Mingsy to get the job full time or for someone else to come and we need it done sooner rather than later."
He continued: "At the moment there is no leader in the dressing room and the boys don't really know who to listen to.
"We need someone to take charge. If Adie Mings is the man then great, but it is all up in the air at the moment."
Redwood started the season playing for Bognor Regis and before that was at Weymouth, with Chippenham's other new recruit Danny Bailey.
He has also spent some time at Dorchester Town, where he used to play against Mings, who was at Gloucester, and at Basingstoke where he was a team-mate of Mings for a while.
He came to Chippenham after answering an SOS call from Mings two days before the Dorchester game and is confident Town have the quality to climb up the table.
He said: "We have got some great players here. Andy Robertson has impressed me and Scott Walker is unbelievable.
"Scotty can do everything with the ball and he pings it for fun. We definitely need to start using him more and giving him the ball."
The Bluebirds travel to Wales tomorrow to take on Merthyr Tydfil and Redwood is hoping for an improvement from last week's dismal showing at home to Stafford.
He said: "We definitely have to start picking up points. There are no options on the pitch at the moment and we are giving the ball away too easily.
"On Saturday we were under pressure and because there was no one to pass to we had to just whack it away and so it came straight back at us.
"We need to get the ball down but at the moment the the options are not there."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article