BLUEBIRDS chairman Malcolm Lyus has been pleasantly surprised with the "high calibre" of people applying for the vacant managerial post at the club.

The position was advertised last Wednesday following Tommy Saunders' departure from Hardenhuish Park by mutual consent.

Already there are 12 applications sitting on Lyus' desk and he has had conversations with six other interested parties regarding the vacancy.

Three former Football League managers have already sent in their CVs along with a number of ex-professional players.

Lyus said: "I would expect we will get about 18 to 20 applications in total.

"I didn't really know what to expect to be honest because we have not been down this road before.

"But I have been impressed with the high calibre of applicants. There have been ex-Football League managers and players and people with a lot of experience.

"But for now we have put our faith in Adie Mings and we are happy with that. If he does a superb job or we feel the quality of applicants is not good enough he might solve the problem for us."

Lyus confirmed that the club would not allow any players to be sold at least until the new manager is appointed.

"We did receive a bid, a reasonable four-figure bid, for Martin Paul this week from a club in our division," the chairman added.

"But I had already told Adie that no players would be sold before the new manager is appointed even if we received a bid of £50,000."

Meanwhile, former Bluebirds assistant-manager Colin Bush this week talked of his shock and sadness over the departure of Saunders.

He said: "Whether you loved Tommy or hated him there will be a big hole there now he is gone. He will be sorely missed."