MORTON chief executive Warren Hawke says he hopes to whittle down the candidates for the manager’s job this week after the deadline for applicants passed on Tuesday night.

The Ton have been looking for a new boss since Jim Duffy left the club by ‘mutual consent’.

The club received 182 applications for the job at Cappielow, with a number of those coming from across the globe.

The Tele understands the board met yesterday for preliminary talks, as they began going through some of the potential candidates.

The board are hoping to reduce that number down to single figures before they start the interview process, which it’s understood will begin towards the end of this week.

Hawke told the Tele: “There were about 50-60 legitimate applications, and some from all over the world, and now it’s our job to ensure we get that down to a manageable three to five people for an interview.

“There’s a lot of good names in there, and ultimately we’ll be picking the best person for the job and who fits the dynamic of a club moving forward.

“It will be a quick decision, we’ll look over the final applications and we’ll work on getting that list down to the few that are picked for the interview stage.”