PETER Phillips has moved to downplay newspaper speculation linking Sean O'Driscoll with the Millwall job.

The Championship club are on the lookout for a new boss after Dennis Wise stepped down as player-manager over a disagreement over transfer funds with new chairman Jeff Burnige.

A report appeared in The Sun yesterday claiming O'Driscoll was "a contender" for the post along with several others including Brentford boss Martin Allen, Yeovil's Gary Johnson and veteran West Ham striker Teddy Sheringham. O'Driscoll's name has also been touted as a possible replacement for Wise in the South London Press.

But while the Cherries chairman admits he is "not surprised" O'Driscoll has been linked with the post, he is adamant he will do all he can to keep the manager at the club.

Phillips, who confirmed there had been no contact from last season's FA Cup finalists, told the Daily Echo: "Sean is a good manager who has done a terrific job in difficult circumstances over the past four and a half years. He is bound to appear on these lists now - in fact, I would be surprised if he didn't.

"We will be doing everything we can to make sure he stays and I am not expecting him to leave this summer. But as far as I'm aware, I don't think there is any particular truth in this specific rumour. I think it is just paper talk.

"There are a few managerial vacancies around and more will probably come up over the summer so a lot of names get mentioned but I wouldn't take it too seriously."

While Phillips stressed he was determined to ensure O'Driscoll remained at the helm, he conceded the time may come in the future when a bigger club does eventually come calling.

Phillips said: "Everybody is entitled to have ambition. If you asked Sean whether he would like to manage in the Premiership, I'm quite sure he'd say 'yes'.

"But it is the same as our players - any of them would take the chance to play in the Premiership.

"But ambition is a good thing and it would be a great shame if neither the players nor the manager had ambition." The chairman was also quick to highlight the fine job his manager had done again this season, despite the club failing to make the play-offs after Saturday's 2-2 draw with Hartlepool United.

Phillips said: "Every fan has their own idea and we all think we can do the manager's job better than the manager sometimes.

"Whether it is selection, formations or substitutions, we all have an opinion. But in the end, it is irrelevant because there is only one manager and I think he has done another fantastic job for us this season.

"He took us the very last game and up until the very last minute of that game, we were in with a chance of making the play-offs."

He added: "I'm sure every club does the same, but you look back over the season and you remember one goal here or there or a decision from the referee at the right time and we would have been in the play-offs.

"It is great that we got that close and now we need to build and do better next season.

"The manager and I have already sat down together to talk about next season and the first stage is to sort out contracts for our existing players who are out of contract.

"We want to keep this squad together and then strengthen it where we can. That is what we will be trying to do over the summer period."