Former Everton and Aston Villa star Derek Mountfield has told the Evening Press he wants the Scarborough manager's job on a permanent basis.

But the veteran defender, who won a glut of medals with Everton in the 1980s, admits he must guide the suffering Seasiders to Division Three safety first.

Mountfield 38, confessed his appointment to joint caretaker boss with assistant manager Ray McHale had come "completely out of the blue".

It followed Mick Wadsworth's decision to quit Scarborough for Colchester United in division two. Hard-up Boro are expected to receive £25,000 from the East Anglian club in compensation.

Mountfield, released by Walsall at the end of last season, only joined Boro earlier this month and has so far played just three games for the Seasiders.

The former England 'B' and Under 21 international was signed by Wadsworth on a non-contract basis to help bring experience and stability to the defence.

But Mountfield admitted he has been harbouring a career in football management for some time.

"I have been applying for a number of management jobs over the last eight months now," he said.

"I came very close to getting the Stevenage Borough job but this has really come completely out of the blue.

"It is a job I am looking forward to taking on and I will be giving it 110 per cent until the end of the season."

Mountfield admitted he would like the job permanently if things work out.

"It is currently on a caretaker basis with Ray but we will be doing our utmost to make sure Scarborough are safe before the end of the season.

"There is no reason why we won't be, but that is our priority and we will take it from there."

But while the Seasiders are currently just one place and two points ahead of bottom club Hull City, Mountfield said he was not planning any sweeping changes.

"We will assess the situation first," said Mountfield

"The players need to have a chance to digest what has happened which could take between a week and ten days. We will wait to see how they react."

Mountfield admitted the players had also been left reeling by Wadsworth's exit.

"It was shock to them and so we took them down to the beach for training and it went very well," he said.

"But there is a good atmosphere in the changing room now and everyone is looking forward."

Mountfield and McHale were due to a have a meeting today with player-coach Jamie Hoyland and skipper John Kay before deciding on a squad for tomorrow's trip to Scunthorpe.

Likely to be included will be Welsh international Glyn Hodges, who made a surprise appearance for Boro reserves in their midweek triumph over Newcastle.

He was brought to the McCain Stadium by Wadsworth in his last move as manager at the club.

"We will be speaking to Glyn today," said Mountfield. "But we don't foresee there being any major changes."

Hodges, 35, was released by Nottingham Forest earlier this season.

Scarborough: from Naisbett, Russell, Hoyland, Marinkov, Kay, Mountfield, Jackson, Atkinson, Bullimore, Lydiate, Hodges, Brodie, Greenacre, Tate, McNaughton.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.