Darlington will not appoint a new manager for the foreseeable future, insists chairman Raj Singh, who explained that the club have other issues which must first be resolved.

The club have been without a manager since Mark Cooper was axed two weeks ago, leaving head of youth Craig Liddle in temporary charge of first-team affairs.

He has overseen three matches, including Saturday's 1-0 win over AFC Telford, and it remains possible he will select the team for Quakers' next match at Ebbsfleet United on November 19.

Singh must first deal with the renegotiation of the players' contracts, an aim revealed in The Northern Echo last Friday, while his dispute with Darlington Borough Council has also taken precedence over selection of the next manager.

"I'm not going to bring in a new manager now and then say ‘I'm walking away in two weeks'. We need to get the players and council sorted first,'' he said.

"It's frustrating that I'm talking about the same things as on day one."

Although appointing the next manager is not Singh's first priority, he has in mind a small number of potential successors to Cooper.

Among those that he and managing director Graham Fordy have interviewed are Martin Foyle, Ronnie Moore and Alan Walsh, while former Hartlepool bosses Chris Turner and Neale Cooper have also applied.

Talks with Middlesbrough coach Colin Cooper collapsed at the beginning of last week, then came defeat at Hinckley, which cost Quakers much-needed revenue and led to Singh's unorthodox approach to the players' salaries.

After a poor beginning to a season that was expected to see Darlington in the promotion race, they are 14th in the Blue Square Premier and Singh says Cooper is to blame.

He believes the squad is worse than last season's, which Cooper guided to a seventh-place finish, while the chairman also lamented the salaries that some of the previous manager's signings are earning.

Speaking to The Northern Echo last night, he said: "Mark sorted out the players. What do you do when you get a phone call? I have to back his judgment.

"Up to a certain extent you know what you are paying. But if I'm paying £1,000 a week, I expect a good player for this level, which we haven't got. I wasn't expecting to pay someone about £800 to £1,000 and them be poor. That's what we've got.

"Mark sorted out the wages. The money was agreed and he ran it by me but I had to back his judgement.

"These characters and leaders he promised we don't have any in the team. I saw that at Hinckley.

"We haven't better players than last year."

Cooper and his former assistant Richard Dryden were among those targeted in a remarkable outburst by Singh in Saturday's programme.

Singh, who says he has spent around £200,000 in pay-offs since becoming chairman in 2009, claims that Cooper and Dryden want their full contracts paid up.

"I have Mark Cooper and Richard Dryden demanding to be paid up in full," he said. "Cooper's legacy should have been about a glorious FA Trophy win at Wembley.

"Instead, all he's left behind is a mismanaged budget and a big-spending mentality created by bringing players in who think they're in for an easy pay-day.

"So we have some very well-paid players under-performing, a bigger shortfall than we have budgeted for and a management team who haven't produced the goods wanting 100 per cent of their contract."

Cooper last night declined to comment on Singh's claims.

He and Dryden met the chairman last Wednesday in an attempt to thrash out a settlement on the remainder of their contracts, which were due to expire at the end of the season.

Referring to the possibility of the club's uncertain future, Singh last night admitted: "The last conversation I had with them, they were looking at getting their contracts paid out in full.

"There are two sides to the agreement. We have to negotiate a figure but if I'm not here they would not get anything."