Neil Dewsnip: Plymouth director of football says he is looking at himself after Ian Foster sacking
- Published
Neil Dewsnip (left) had a big say in the appointment of Ian Foster (right) in January
Plymouth Argyle director of football Neil Dewsnip says he is "looking at myself" after Ian Foster was sacked as the club's manager this week.
Dewsnip was influential in Foster's appointment - they worked together for two years at the Football Association.
Foster lost his job after Monday's 1-0 loss at home to Bristol City - an eighth defeat in the last 11 matches.
Dewsnip is now in caretaker charge until the end of the season alongside first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell.
"I'm looking at myself to be fair. What could I do to help more?" he told BBC Radio Devon.
"I feel as though you desperately want people to succeed when you've had an input into the appointment.
"I'd like to think we gave him every chance to succeed but the team has lost form at a time when we've had some incredibly difficult fixtures."
The Pilgrims are now just one point and one place above the relegation zone, having slipped from 15th place and having an eight-point buffer to the drop zone after Foster's penultimate win as boss at Swansea City two months ago.
"Some people become fantastic at being head coaches and managers with no experience, others have lots of experience and can go the opposite way," added Dewsnip.
"I guess you just have to do your due diligence, have a profile that you think you want to go with.
"We did all that, unfortunately this time it didn't work out. I think the two previous times it worked out very well."
The Plymouth Argyle job was Foster's first role in charge of a senior men's side in England, having been England Under-20s manager prior to a spell coach in Saudi Arabia
Dewsnip and Nancekivell have the task of trying to keep Argyle out of the relegation places with six games left.
Their task starts on Friday night (20:00 BST) away at bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United, who will be relegated if they fail to beat the Pilgrims.
And while Dewsnip is focusing on on-field matters, he says work has begun to find a successor to Foster, who won just four of his 17 games in charge - with only three of those wins coming in the Championship.
"We're not very far down that pathway, and if you said 'have we got any ideas about names', no absolutely not," he explained.
"But we will get the ball rolling in terms of what that profile should look like and then who's out there in the marketplace.
"Football being football, my phone is already full of people who are desperate to be Argyle's next head coach."