As disappointed as King's Lynn Town chairman Steve Cleeve is to be losing manager Ian Culverhouse this summer, he knows it comes with the territory.

The former Norwich City and Aston Villa assistant manager is on target to hit an incredible 100 points in his first full season, if victory at eighth-placed Chesham can be secured on Saturday.

That would also seal second place and home advantage for the play-offs, which is why the timing of Culverhouse revealing his approaching exit has infuriated the Linnets chief. However, Cleeve was always aware success would see Culverhouse linked with higher level clubs – although a summer move to Cambridge United was dismissed as speculation last week.

'The problem for King's Lynn is that until we get into the Football League it's always going to be tough to retain a good manager, you do well and he gets people interested in him,' Lynn's chairman said.

'It's not like we don't have scouts come and watch us. The other game we had Rotherham, we've had Middlesbrough, MK Dons, so every week we've got two or three scouts turning up.

'That's for players and if you have a manager who is doing well then it can be difficult to hang on to him, that's the way it is.

'Obviously Ian thinks he's done well enough to get himself a better gig elsewhere. I don't know if that's true or not, time will tell on that one.'

Cameron Norman and Cameron King, both FA Youth Cup winners with Norwich, are likely to be targets for clubs higher up the pyramid whether Lynn are promoted or not.

So Cleeve knows he needs to chose carefully when appointing Culverhouse's successor, a process which is already under way.

MORE: Lynn advertise managerial vacancy but outgoing Culverhouse remains for play-off push

'I need someone who is able to do the media duties, who is able to talk to me and have good lines of communication, that's important,' he continued.

'We let the manager pretty much run his own ship, he runs the training, we let him buy who he wants, we don't force players on him, although if someone good turns up we might ask him to take a look at him. We just want them to succeed.

'So we can offer the right guy the right stage to show what he can do, to carry on what Ian has started and take it on to the next level.'