MORTON chief executive Warren Hawke wants the club to bring in a new manager as ‘quickly as possible’.

Jim Duffy left the Ton on Sunday, a day after their season closed with a defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle, ending his four years in charge of the Greenock side.

The decision came on the back of the club’s poor end of season form, picking up only two wins in their last 12 games, resulting in missing out on the play-offs and finishing in seventh place.

The Cappielow side posted a job advert on the club’s website and across social media yesterday, as they began their search for Duffy’s replacement.

Hawke told the Tele: “There’s no doubt we want to make an appointment as quick as possible.

“We want to give the new person as long as possible within the close season to get Morton in position and to start to form a squad for next season. There’s no point in us procrastinating over this, and we’ll be moving as quickly as possible to get the right person.

“We want them to take the club forward and for our vision for the football club in the next few years to be aligned with theirs.”

The job advert states the club are ‘seeking to recruit a committed, knowledgeable, and self-motivated person to take on the position of first team manager.

‘This role is fundamental to the long-term vision of our football club, ensuring that the first-team department is aligned with all aspects of the club’s ambition and foundation that has been built over the past five years.

‘This must include synergy with meeting our ambitions of challenging for promotion to the top tier, investing and developing our highly-talented young players and supporting our award-winning community initiatives’.

New Morton chairman Crawford Rae also issued a statement on the club website last night, where he announced assistant Craig McPherson had also left the Ton by mutual consent, and said the club had already received a number of applicants for the job.

Hawke says the club will look to narrow down the list of applicants as soon as possible before making a decision.

He added: “At this moment in time we just need to create a shortlist, and then once we’ve done that we’ll be making a selection for the new appointment to fit in with our vision and our way forward for the club.”

A large number of the current squad are out of contract in the summer, with most players’ deals running until June.

Morton’s longest serving player and vice-captain Thomas O’Ware has already announced that he will be leaving the club.

Only Robert Thomson, Michael Tidser and Bob McHugh remain contracted with the Greenock side until next summer.

And Ton’s chief executive says they’ll be dealing with other players’ contracts in due course.

He said: “There are a number of players that are out of contract and we’ll be dealing with each one individually as soon as possible.”