NEW joint-boss Stewart Kearn is set to send veteran midfielder Taffy Richardson an SOS as he tries to assemble a competitive squad at Bashley.

Kearn, 37, who yesterday stepped into the managerial breach alongside Bash legend Paul Gazzard, set Southern Premier survival as his first target and admitted he wanted to call on 46-year-old Richardson’s vast experience.

Richardson turned down an offer to stay with Poole after feeling unused and undervalued at Tatnam and has trained all summer in his quest to keep playing at Southern League level or above.

And Kearn, who admitted beating the drop would be an achievement on a “heavily reduced” budget at Bashley Road, revealed Richardson, a stalwart of more than 1,000 senior non-league appearances, was on his radar.

The new Bash boss told the Daily Echo: “I’ve always rated Taff – he certainly knows his job.

“In the first instance, he would be a great player to come and help steady the ship. He gets on well with both me and Gaz and we know what he’s about.

“Taffy has been around for what seems like thousands of years now and I was surprised when he left Poole under a cloud. He’s certainly someone we’ll have a chat with.

“It is important to have a few older heads out there to help out the youngsters and, if we can strike the right balance, I don’t see any reason why we can’t be competitive.”

Meanwhile, Kearn said the swift exit of predecessors Frank Gray and Gerry Murphy had been unexpected and that he and Gazzard will have their work cut out with limited resources available.

Kearn added: “It came out of the blue really. We spoke to Frank and Gerry over the course of the summer but it suddenly got thrown into turmoil. It was a pleasure to work with them and it is a shame they have left.

“The immediate aim is survival. Over the course of the past few seasons, 40-odd points has been enough and we are hoping to reach that as soon as we can.

“The budget has been heavily reduced, otherwise Frank and Gerry would still be here. We were asked to step up and are going to give it a real go.”