Dean Keates and Lee Jones 'possible' as new Wrexham boss

Dean Keates celebrates after leading Wrexham to victory in the FA Trophy final this season

Wrexham caretaker boss Carl Darlington maintains he does not want the job full time, but said there are other strong candidates within the club.

Saturday's 1-0 win at Grimsby means Darlington is unbeaten in four games in charge since Kevin Wilkin was sacked.

"I don't want the job personally, but I think there's good people in the club as well," Darlington said.

"Player-wise you could look at Dean Keates. He's 37 years old now, who's a leader and is a possibility."

Keates would follow the example of Wilkin's predecessor Andy Morrell by becoming player-manager.

Darlington says there are also candidates in the backroom staff.

"You've also got Lee Jones [the youth coach who has been assisting Darlington with first-team matters] as well," Darlington said.

"Nothing has been mentioned about Lee, he's been in that dugout with me since the first game.

"That might be a possibility although I don't want to put words into his mouth.

"I don't know if they've applied, but there's also good candidates coming in from other sources.

"I've really enjoyed doing the job, but it's not just me.

"Behind me is Michael Oates and Lee Jones and we've all been there supporting the team.

"So it's not been about myself, it's been about the three of us doing that and Dai [David Spendiff] doing the physical preparation for the players.

"It's been a joint team effort and we're just keeping that seat warm ready for the manager, whoever that may be."

Wrexham handed Grimsby their first loss in 11 league matches at the weekend.

That realistically ended the Mariners' automatic promotion hopes, thanks to Joe Clarke's clinical 20-yard strike.

"I was really proud of the players," Darlington added.