Jamie Day admits he is having to be patient in the early days of his tenure as Braintree Town's new manager.

Before he starts thinking about new players, Day's first priority has been to speak with the club's existing squad to see who will be staying.

He said deals had been offered to Matt Paine and Dan Sparkes, while other members of the squad have also been spoken to about their positions and Day has given players a ten-day period to make their minds up on what is on the table for them.

Day is giving them that time to assess whether they want to stay as Iron players, however, the new manager admits he can't wait any longer before looking to make new additions.

He said: "Once I have a clear gauge of where I am with our boys, I have a list of players who I have seen over the course of the last year or so and players I have worked with before.

"We then narrow that down after identifying the positions that are needed and I'll have to make my move and get those boys in.

"I have made contact with a few players as I may need to fill gaps and I'm just feeling around.

"It's a little bit of a waiting game at the moment, though, and I just have to be patient.

"I have spoken with all the boys and some of them are waiting on other offers to weigh up all their options.

"In an ideal world, six or seven of the boys would have been tied down to deals in January and this would have been a quiet time, but they're not tied down and I'm having to try to be relaxed and let them assess their own individual situations.

"We've offered firm deals to Matt Paine and Dan Sparkes as I'd love to keep them here and they are weighing up what is on the table, while others are looking at what we've said to them.

"They'll have the ten days that we've given them and then I'll have a better feeling for where we are."

Meanwhile, Day said he was hoping to name Dean Frost, his former first-team coach during his time as Welling boss, as his assistant manager at Braintree.

He is looking to tie up that appointment soon, while Jamie Turner has also been named as goalkeeping coach after the departure of Glen Johnson.

Day added: "I worked with Dean Frost at Welling and he took over them towards the end of last season.

"Obviously Mark Godbold has gone in there so he is free.

"He's someone I have worked with before and I know the boys will like him.

"We have had chats and I have mentioned it to him.

"He feels it's a really good opportunity so hopefully he will agree and come on board.

"We've also brought in a new goalkeeping coach on board but I don't want to waste too much on staff as we need to look at the players."