Martin Gray will not be the next manager of Darlington, the club say.

Gray gave an interview to The Northern Echo, published today, in which the former Quakers boss said he would take on the role on a voluntary basis until the end of the season.

However, this morning Darlington have released a statement saying they have decided “not to pursue” Gray’s application to replace Josh Gowling.

It reads: “We have received several expressions of interest in the Darlington FC manager’s role, one of which was from Martin Gray.

“The board considered Martin’s application on Thursday, and given the history and the significant conflict of interest over academies, we decided not to pursue it, and fed that back to him.

“We would like to thank Martin for his interest. The recruitment process is ongoing.”

Darlington are at home to Scarborough Athletic today (3pm), bidding to avenge Boxing Day’s 2-0 defeat to the same opponents.