Rob Smith backs Steve Palmer to boss higher

Smith and his former Telford captain Palmer lock horns tonight when the Bucks travel to Wolverhampton for a friendly at AFC Wulfrunians.

Former midfielder Palmer is in Telford's Hall of Fame, after captaining the club to promotion in his second spell following on from impressing for them in the Conference in his first spell.

As a manager, Palmer has been in charge of the Castlecroft-based outfit for four years.

He's led them to seventh and 13th in the Midland League Premier Division in the last two years, plus the fourth round of the FA Vase last term despite having no playing budget.

And Smith reckons he can move up the non-league pyramid, saying: "Steve is a good friend and we speak regularly.

"I've taken teams there for the last five pre-seasons with Hednesford and Telford and it's always good to see him.

"He's done an unbelievable job on limited resources so any way we can help them, we're prepared to do.

"He probably does need to move on now. No disrespect to AFC Wulfs but there's only so far they can go.

"It would be nice to see him have the resources to work with because he's got the right work ethic, he knows what it's all about and he deserves to get a job at a higher level.

"I'm sure there are people looking at him – a lot of managers at that level need to step up and Steve could easily do it but he seems happy there, at the moment."

Meanwhile, Smith is set to give former Blackburn academy winger Evans until the weekend to win a deal after he caught the eye in 45 minutes at Colwyn Bay.

The Bucks chief continued: "Micah has really impressed us, so we're having a look at him.We'll get to Saturday and see if there's anything we can do with him.

As regards fellow trialist Joe Fitzpatrick, Smith said: "Joe's a quality footballer but, unfortunately for him, we're well blessed in that department."