Rushden & Diamonds chairman Helen Thompson has revealed that she sacked manager Paul Hart simply because he failed to deliver.

The club dropped down from League Two but have failed to impress this term as they languish near the bottom of the Nationwide Conference.

Goalkeeping coach Tony Godden has been appointed as caretaker first-team manager in the interim with club captain Dave Savage, team skipper Chris Hope and physiotherapist Simon Parsell set to assist him.

Rushden have also revealed that they have received applications from "high-profile names" and former Diamonds stars Colin West and Jim Rodwell, ex-Northampton and Kettering boss Kevin Wilson plus highly-rated Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough have all been tentatively linked with the vacant post.

"Our financial situation is no different to a lot of other football clubs whether they are in League Two or the Conference," chairman Helen Thompson told Kettering Today.

"All clubs have difficulty making it pay and no-one does that from gate receipts alone. Our gates have not been fantastic so far this season but I'm sure they will go up later. Perhaps Paul's experience of working in the Championship was different to coming to this level.

"But I have to stress we have to spend our money according to our income and we don't have a lot. We have to make sure we are prudent because the fans own this club so it's their money.

"Paul had a decent budget to spend here and it's one of the biggest in the Conference apart from Oxford United and Weymouth. It's very disappointing because we had high expectations and we really didn't expect to be in 17th place now. That's just not acceptable."