GUISELEY chairman Phil Rogerson said interim manager Adam Lockwood can put himself in pole position to take the reins on a permanent basis if he gets results.

The Lions axed Mark Bower after starting the season with five straight defeats and vastly-experienced defender Lockwood has been placed in temporary charge.

The former Doncaster and Oldham centre-back, 34, will be assisted by Martin Stringfellow and Steve Dickinson and will take charge of Saturday’s home game with Bromley and the televised trip to Tranmere on Bank Holiday Monday.

A positive sequence of results could persuade the Nethermoor board to make Lockwood the permanent successor to Bower.

Rogerson revealed the Lions had been inundated with over 40 emails and applications expressing interest in the job.

But he said: “It's very dependent on how Adam does to be honest.

“We've got a game on Saturday and a game on Monday, so it depends largely on how those games go.

“It would be nice to think that we had got ourselves into a winning run and that Locky became a real prospect.

“He has been promised that he will be considered and he is certainly interested.

“But it depends on how things go and what other applicants we get – we've been inundated with emails and applications.

“We are probably up to 40 or 50 already with various levels of competency.

“Some of them will not be considered but some are very high level, so it will take some sifting through.

“At this stage, Adam has a chance to get his feet under the table and hopefully get some wins.

“He has been at least an assistant manager at Oldham, so he certainly has the right background and am sure he will command respect from the squad.”

Rogerson is not adverse to promoting from within again as he did when Bower stepped up from being a player to take the top job.

Bower guided the Lions to promotion to the National League in 2014-15 and then kept them there in dramatic fashion last term.

Rogerson added: “You've got to give Mark a lot of credit for what he achieved, but I don't know if anyone can put their finger on what went wrong towards the back end of last season and the beginning of this.

“When you appoint someone internally, it helps in that it makes the learning curve less steep and I don't think it's about seniority.

“It's a results-based business and there are budgetary considerations as well.

"If over the next two to three games Adam pulls something off, it would be pretty hard to ignore him.

“It needs to be said that we are still open to applicants.

“If anyone has the relevant experience and feels they can do a job, then we would like to hear from them.

“There is no specific timescale and there can't be because we said we would give Adam a chance.

“We have three games in the next week and will see where it goes from there.”