Ben Chenery is in pole position to be named the new manager of Bury Town.

The former Chelmsford City assistant manager, who worked as number two to Richard Wilkins at Ram Meadow last season, is well underway with the club’s recruitment drive.

Chenery has signed 11 players for the new Ryman Premier season – the latest being experienced Town campaigner, John Kennedy, and team-mate Miles Smith – and it is understood that chairman Russell Ward will hand the 37-year-old the reins permanently next week.

Chenery is among a dozen candidates to have applied for the job, and faces competition from two fellow ex-professionals and one hopeful with Premier League bosses Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis as references on his CV.

Chenery, who played in the Football League with Cambridge United and Luton, was placed in charge of the Blues following Wilkins’ departure after 14 years at the club.

He was given the responsibility to bring in players ahead of the new season but that didn’t necessarily guarantee him the job and he was urged by Ward to prove that he was the right man.

Speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times recently, Ward said: “Ben can do lots over the next couple of weeks to prove that he is the right person for the job.

“He is in charge of player recruitment at the moment, including re-signing players, and if, in a couple of weeks, he has managed to sign a lot of the club’s targets, he will have stood himself in good stead.”

Signed up for next season are Kennedy, Smith, Seb Dunbar, Connor Hall, Remi Garrett, Jack Brame, Nathan Clarke, Joe Whight, Billy Clark, Liam Wales and Ross Bailey.

Meanwhile, Mansell Wallace is stepping down as Chelmsford City chairman.

Wallace said: “I have decided that as the club is embarking on a five-year plan, with a complete restructure of the organisation and facilities, that it needs a younger person to drive it through.

“Coming to 65 years of age, a younger person will have more energy to drive the plans through the next five years and beyond.”

He added: “The new chairman can influence the organisation with his own ideas.”