Marcus Bignot says he is ‘very keen’ to speak with Chester FC over vacant managerial position at the Swansway Chester Stadium.

Following Wednesday’s sacking of Jon McCarthy a whole host of names have been linked with the Blues job, including the likes of former Tranmere Rovers manager Gary Brabin and Blues great Graham Barrow.

One name which has been mentioned in connection with the vacancy is that of 43-year-old Bignot, who is currently helping out as assistant manager at Barrow after leaving his role as boss of League Two side Grimsby Town earlier this year.

The former QPR and Crewe Alexandra defender worked wonders during a five-year association with Solihull Moors, leading the Midlands side to the National League North title at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Bignot also spent seven years as manager of the Birmingham City Ladies team between 1998 and 2005, leading them from the Midland Combination League to the FA Women’s Premier League, then the top tier of women’s football in England.

Now he is keen to become the next manager of the Blues.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Bignot said: “Would I love an interview at Chester? Yes I would.

“I’m very keen to speak to Chester over the vacancy. From the outside looking in it looks like a football club that has all the infrastructure in place to grow.

“It’s never nice to see a manager lose his job and even though Chester against Solihull is a game that I would have watched normally, the fact that Jon McCarthy was under pressure didn’t sit right with me. I’ve no time for that, really. Sitting in the stands watching a game when a manager is under pressure, that’s not how I operate.

“I have never been someone who takes a job for the sake of just being involved in football. I have to have a project, to have time to build something positive and I have to have people around me who share that vision and want to dream a bit bigger.

“I am an open book. I believe in my abilities and I think what I have achieved in my career backs that up.

“I’m not someone who wants to just come in and try and make a quick fix and find somewhere else, I want success to be sustained and help grow everything about a football club. From the community to the youth side to the first team. I understand, though, that it is a results business and what happens with the first team is how success is judged, but I have a record of achieving results.”

Given the emphasis placed by the club on any manager having a strong understanding of the community side of the fan-owned club and being able to build up a football club with limited resources, Bignot points to his time as manager of both Solihull and Birmingham City Ladies as examples of him doing just that.

He said: “When I started at Solihull we had two teams representing the club. By the time I left we were reaching out to over 1,000 schools with our community programme in the area and helping to grow the football club on and off the field.

“At Birmingham we were pretty much playing local football on a park when I began their at 24. Some years later and we made the top flight of the women’s game and made it to the Champions League.”

And Bignot believes that Chester need to overachieve to realise their goal of a Football League return but says that he is of the mindset that managers should always ‘dream big’.

“Chester were a Football League club and that never goes away,” he said.

“Fans don’t forget. It adds some pressure and Chester will need to overachieve to make it happen, but you should always be looking to overachieve and dream a bit bigger.

“It’s a great football club and the fact that it is fan owned makes that connection with those who come and pay to watch even greater.

“We’ll see what happens but it’s something I am very keen on.”