Colchester United hope to have their new manager in place by early September.

With the Weston Homes Community Stadium hotseat currently being taken care of by Joe Dunne, the U's board of directors are considering their options for the next permanent boss.

Joe will take the team for the second time this weekend at MK Dons, following the win over Gillingham in midweek.

Speaking on the club's Col U Live radio show on Dream 100, Chief Executive Steve Bradshaw said the wheels are already well in motion in the hunt for the new U's manager.

"At the moment, we've had some fantastic applications already, over thirty of them," he said. 

"Some of them are absolutely brilliant, from literally world-renowned people.

"Other ones are more speculative - we had a guy who said he'd coached in the Middle East and knew a sheik who might want to invest in the club; we probably won't be interviewing him."

With the team facing tough games against the Dons and Leeds in the next week or so, the U's board remain keen to ensure that the positive momentum is maintained over the next fortnight.

Steve added: "The truth of the matter is that we will longlist as a board on Monday.

"We will then speak informally to all those guys that we can speak to and then we will shortlist.

"We will probably interview the end of next week or early the following week, with a view to an immediate start.

"So we want to do it right, we want to get the right person and we want to repay the fans' faith in us."

Stay up to date with the managerial hunt by visiting CU-FC.com! We'll have all the latest on U's Player and more, so don't go anywhere!

With thanks to Matt Calmus of Vital Football for his help with transcription.