MANAGER Stuart Ritchie is in talks with AFC Totton about the club’s ambitions.

The Stags’ headline-hitting FA Cup run brought his achievements at the Testwood Stadium to national attention and, inevitably, there have been rumours linking him to other clubs.

There is absolutely no suggestion that Ritchie is considering leaving Totton after seven successful years featuring two promotions and an FA Vase final at Wembley.

But, with his Stags contract due to end in May, he needs to know that the club’s vision for the future matches his own.

Having moved into a brand new Conference South standard stadium earlier this year, Totton have the facilities to climb higher.

And, with about £150,000 banked from their FA Cup exploits, club finances have been significantly boosted.

In the wake of the Stags’ televised FA Cup defeat by Bristol Rovers, Ritchie’s assistant Sean New voiced his hope that some of the Cup winnings would go towards strengthening the squad for a serious promotion push with Totton currently lying second in their debut Southern Premier season.

Having had initial talks with chairman Phil Shephard on Tuesday, Ritchie and New hope to have another meeting in the next few days.

“I’m ambitious to go higher and I’ve proved my credibility as a manager,” said Ritchie.

“The idea of talking to the club is to see what they’re thinking, weigh up my options and take it from there."

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