A stellar list of stars are in the hunt to be the new manager of AFC Telford United –with three former top flight aces already declaring interest, writes Chris Hudson.

I understand ex-England internationals Tim Flowers and Andy Sinton have both thrown their hat into the ring as the race to replace Rob Smith hots up, along with ex-Shrewsbury boss Jimmy Quinn – who saw Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Vauxhall Motors.

Smith’s departure, first revealed last Friday, was due to be confirmed in a statement this morning after legal issues were resolved – and the club have announced a May 24 deadline to appoint a successor.

Flowers is currently in Iain Dowie’s coaching staff at Premier League Hull, but is eager to go it alone – and has already got an experienced non-League coaching staff lined up.

And Sinton, who played for Spurs and Wolves among others, has confirmed his interest via his agent Paul Turner.

Sinton, currently boss of Fleet Town in the Ryman League, is based in Solihull and wants to take charge of a Midlands club.

Quinn guided Shrewsbury out of the Conference at the first attempt in 2004 and has since had spells in charge of Cambridge and Bournmouth. He won 46 caps for Northern Ireland and scored over 300 career goals

Bucks chairman Lee Carter said today: “The Board have set an absolute deadline of having appointed, or at least agreed terms with someone, by May 24.

“It’s imperative that we get someone in the post who has assessed our current squad so we can decide which of those players we’d like to talk to about retaining.

“We’ve had a phenomenal amount of interest,” he added.