WESTFIELD chairman Steve Perkins is bullish about their future following the exit of Simon Lane.

Lane quit the Yellows’ hot seat last midweek and stepped up a division to become boss of Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division club Kingstonian the same day. 

But in an exclusive interview with the News & Mail, Perkins said: “I predict that Westfield will be playing at a higher level of football than Kingstonian in the next few years.

“We’re working very hard at Westfield behind the scenes. We’ve got great facilities, everyone loves what we’re about and we’ve got one of the best set-ups, in my view, in non-League.” 

Regarding a search for a new manager, Perkins said: “That’s not a five-minute job and we don’t just want to do something for the sake of having a manager in place.

“We’ve put an advertisement out and it’s on our website, and word goes around in local football very quickly. We’ve had applications already. Whether they’re the right ones, we don’t know.

“We’re going to take our time and do things the Westfield way, which is properly, and hopefully get the right person to take us forward to complete the journey we set out on with Simon, which is to go up through the leagues.” 

For the full interview, see the 16 February issue of the News & Mail.