CHAIRMAN Jeremy Alderman says that Frome Town decided to stop ‘thinking outside the box’ as they appointed Nick Bunyard as their new manager.

After relieving Adrian Foster of his duties last weekend following their winless start to the new Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division season, the Robins have moved to instate former player Bunyard as their new boss.

The 35-year-old quit league rivals Paulton Rovers, who he guided to promotion from the Division One South & West in 2014 thanks to an impressive play-off final victory over Merthyr Town, at the end of last season and will be joined at Badgers Hill by Paul Milsom and Josh Jeffries, who come in as assistant manager and first-team coach respectively.

After recruiting departed chief Foster from Toolstation League Gillingham Town in December 2013, Badgers Hill head honcho Alderman says that Bunyard’s experience at Evo-Stik League Southern level and local contacts made him the ideal choice.

“For our last few manages, we’ve thought outside the box with bringing in managers from lower levels or from coaching backgrounds but this time, we were certain we wanted somebody with experience,” said Alderman.

“We only just escaped relegation last season and our results haven’t been good so far this year, so we felt that we needed to make a change to try and make things better.

“Nick has been at the ground watching a few times recently but so have a few other managers – I had a few texts and e-mails from other managers about the job too but we thought that Nick was the right person to bring in.

“He only lives five or six miles from the ground and he’s got plenty of contacts, which I’m sure he’ll make use of to try and bring players in.”

The new Frome boss is currently away on business and won’t be present for Saturday’s game against Kettering and Bank Holiday Monday’s trip to Poole Town, with goalkeeping coach Lloyd Chamberlain taking the side, but Alderman says that Bunyard has “been on the phone” every day since his appointment.

The Robins chairman also confirmed that he expects a clutch of players to follow Foster out of the exit door.

On Saturday, despite taking a fourth-minute lead through Ollie Taylor, Frome were thrashed 5-1 at Chesham United.

The hosts’ Ryan Blake equalised before Brad Wadkins made it 2-1 to the Generals before half-time.

Veteran ex-Fulham and Millwall striker Barry Hayles hit two further goals in the second period whilst Wadkins completed his brace to heap misery on the Robins.