Formartine United are stepping up their efforts to appoint a new manager following the departure of Steve Paterson at the weekend.
Paterson’s reign at North Lodge Park came to an end following United’s 3-2 home defeat by Huntly.
Formartine will not be seeking applications for the position as chairman Atholl Cadger has already identified who he wants to succeed former Aberdeen and Caley Thistle manager Paterson.
Cadger said: “There is no need to invite applications as we have targets in mind and we will begin the process of speaking to them this week.
“We’re clear on the route we want to go but we will have to see what developments there are in the coming days.
“While we go through the process following Steve’s departure we have placed captain Graham Hay and midfielder Stuart Anderson in charge. Under-20s coach Eddie Copeland will be in the dugout to assist them.”
Sources at North Lodge Park claim Fraserburgh manager Kris Hunter is the frontrunner for the post but Broch chairman Finlay Noble insists there has been no approach from Formartine for his manager.
Noble said: “There have been rumours of interest in Kris but it’s purely speculation. There has been no approach that I’m aware of.”
Meanwhile, the Broch chairman insists his club is not to blame for Peterhead’s withdrawal from the Aberdeenshire Shield.
The Blue Toon were supposed to renew their old rivalry with their Buchan neighbours at Bellslea last night but the fixture was cancelled when Peterhead withdrew from the tournament citing a lack of available players.
As a result the Broch have been given a bye to the final where they will meet the winners of tonight’s semi-final between Turriff United and Cove Rangers.
Peterhead’s departure from the tournament has been an acrimonious one, with manager Jim McInally claiming his team will not play in the tournament again.
Noble believes the late request to change the date of the game would have left his club at a disadvantage and insists Fraserburgh were right to ask for the March 17 date to be honoured by the Blue Toon.
He said: “The date of the semi-finals was agreed at a meeting of the Aberdeenshire FA on February 11. We were approached by Peterhead last week to change the date of the game as they didn’t want to have players travelling from the central belt. We, however, were happy to play on the scheduled date of March 17.
“It is our belief that a scheduled date can only be changed at the agreement of both clubs. The party that doesn’t agree cannot then be pilloried for not doing so if the other party only wants change because it doesn’t suit them.
“Not wanting players to travel to a game where there are only 18 miles between the two competing clubs is not a good enough reason. If Peterhead had a game the following night then, yes, that would be a good reason. The fact that Peterhead didn’t have a SPFL game that midweek was the main reason for that date being chosen in the first place.”