SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown has revealed Graham Coughlan has been offered the chance to become his new right hand man following the departure of Dave Penney.

As was revealed by Echosport yesterday, Penney has been unable to agree a new deal with the Shrimpers.

And Coughlan, who has been with Blues since 2010, now looks set to step up from his current role of first team coach.

“We’ve offered the assistant manager’s job to Graham and will now be looking for a new first team coach,” said Brown.

“Dave will be sorely missed and he’s been different class for me with all of the experience he has, but unfortunately we were unable to agree a new deal with him.

“It’s been a business decision but we thank him for his efforts and wish him all the very best for the future.” Penney will now be looking to get back into the game elsewhere.

But Brown was keen to stress the 50-year-old’s departure had nothing to do with him getting arrested during the celebrations which followed the club’s promotion from League Two last season.

Penney is due to stand trial in October after pleading not guilty to assaulting a police officer.

However, Brown insisted the incident did not play a part in Penney moving on.

“I would like to stress that this has nothing to do with what happened after the play-off final,” said Brown.

“I don’t think it’s any secret Dave would also like to be a manager again and he applied for a couple of jobs last season.

“But he’s moving on with our best wishes.”

Penney, who is believed to have applied for managerial positions at Wrexham and Gateshead, had been in charge of Doncaster Rovers, Darlington, Oldham Athletic and Bristol Rovers before teaming up with Blues in May 2013.