Paul Carden admits Chester will always pull on his heartstrings but won’t be applying to become the club’s new manager.

The 39-year-old is revered as a club legend at the Deva, having made over 200 first-team appearances for Chester City and captained the 2003-04 title-winning Conference team, and was installed as an early front-runner with bookmakers for the Blues vacancy, in the wake of Marcus Bignot’s sacking last week.

However, Carden – currently boss at Northern Premier League promotion-hopefuls Warrington Town – confirmed he would not be applying for the Deva role and believes it could prove a thankless task when Chester do appoint their fifth permanent manager since reforming.

“Chester is one job that would always appeal to almost everyone,” said Carden, who has also managed Southport and had caretaker spells in charge of Cambridge United and Tranmere Rovers.

“I have a longstanding, strong affinity with the club. It’s got real history and it is a fantastic opportunity for someone to go in there, but whether that is now is up for debate given Chester’s off-field problems which have been well-documented in recent months.

“But it’s not the right time for me to be applying for the job. The chairman (at Warrington) has always been fantastic with me and has real ambitions to do something here. He also recognises I’ve got ambitions of my own.

“We’re trying to achieve something at Warrington and hopefully we’ll be playing in the same division as Chester next season. That’s my only focus right now and applying for that job would only act as a distraction for us at what is a crucial stage of the season.”

Chester’s off-pitch turmoil, which has seen the recent departures of a host of first-team players, backroom staff and the resignation of two directors, must be sorted – and quickly – according to Carden, or else the club will find life very difficult in the ‘unforgiving’ National League North.

“I don’t know the full ins and outs, but from what I hear and as an outsider looking in, there’s a lot of negativity about the way the club is run,” said Carden, who was approached by Chester back in September prior to Bignot's appointment.

“I spent the best years of my career at Chester and it’s sad to see what is happening. It hurts.

“Whatever is going on, people running the club need to put their egos aside and concentrate on what is best for the future of the club.

“It’s definitely a good job for someone though. The new manager of Chester is going to have to deal with the problems that come with that.

“That’s going to be really difficult to manage next season. National League North is a really demanding league. You play a lot of games, there’s a lot of established clubs in there and then there’s plenty more who have money behind them.

“You’ve got the likes of York and Stockport who are former Football League clubs, then you have to contend with the Harrogate’s and Salford’s who are well backed. It’s unforgiving and I hope Chester are prepared for that.”

Despite ruling himself out of the running for the vacancy on a permanent basis, 24-year-old caretaker boss Calum McIntyre remains favourite for the Chester job at 2/1 with BetVictor.

Former Blues’ Andy Holden (6/1) and Shaun Reid (16/1) feature prominently, while board member Calvin Hughes is chalked up as a 6/1 chance to be promoted into the manager’s hot seat.

Witton Albion manager Carl McCauley is priced at 6/1, Carden is available at 14s and Neil Redfearn is a 12/1 shot.