Harriers had no control over Murray exit - Lane

The search for Murray's replacement is already under way with Harriers director of football Dean Holdsworth leading the recruitment process.

"We've been very lucky. Every manager that has left the building, we then get a flood of CVs, agents, you name it, knocking on and already I'm very, very impressed," Lane said.

"I'm flattered by the amount of people, the quality and the experience of people who want to come to this amazing club. That tells us where we are as a club."

Lane said Holdsworth will whittle potential candidates down to "one or two" with the aim of having someone in place "in the next week".

"We know what we're looking for in terms of the quality of the experience, that desire," he said.

"It has to be a fighting season for us. We need that bit of bite on the players and that manager needs to be someone who wants to work his socks off but also taking the culture of the club."

Since Murray's departure, attention has fallen on the potential futures of his assistant Stuart Watkiss as well as some of the Harriers squad.

Lane said "hopefully" former Harriers boss Watkiss will stay but added the new manager will decide who they want in their coaching team.

As for potentially losing players to Barrow, Lane said Murray had "guaranteed" him he would not try to sign anyone.

Harriers can 'hold own' in National League

Harriers' promotion to the National League is the club's second in the last four seasons and Lane said they will do everything they can to try to avoid an immediate relegation as happened in 2023-24.

"The budget has gone up because we want to survive. If we have a few additional players, I think we'll fight. We won't be fighting for promotion - that would be a dream - but we want to be a mid-table team and we just need the right ingredients with the right budget and the right leader," Lane said.

"We know where we made our mistakes last time and it is about getting better players in using the loan system, maybe out of the EFL.

"But the focus for us is just to survive. I'm excited that we can hold our own in the National League."