PAUL Tisdale says he will be in the Exeter City dugout this weekend, despite rumoured interest from his former club Southampton.

The Saints are looking for a new boss after sacking Alan Pardew last week and the Grecians manager is said to be high on their wish list.

Yet Tisdale says he is interested in City's fortunes and little else.

The St James's Park chief said: "I have made it very clear that I'm happy at Exeter and the job here is not finished yet. I haven't been swayed by any vacancy — I'm pretty committed to where I am at present so on Saturday I will be Exeter manager.

"There has been no contact (with Southampton). I have seen the press but I think I have been pretty straight-forward with building my career and I have been very clear about the timescales I'm working to.

"It's not a secret I'm very happy here and haven't finished my path here. Whether that will put people off at the moment or not I don't know. I'm not looking for contact from anyone.

"I'm sure we are doing a good job and one day I may choose to move on, who knows? At the moment I still think we are on the road to being a better team and long may that continue."

Tisdale should have most of his squad available for selection this weekend, when City entertain Charlton Athletic in npower League One.

Daniel Nardiello and David Noble have both shaken off injuries to come back into contention for Tisdale's side, while centre-back Troy Archibald-Henville came through the match at Yeovil Town unscathed.

However, captain Matt Taylor is still suffering with a knee problem and so will once more sit out.

Tisdale says the skipper's current target is to be back to fitness in time for next week's game at Hartlepool United instead.

"It's going to be tricky and it's about the injury settling down naturally, so there's no particular time scale we can put on it, but the target for Matt is the Hartlepool game," Tisdale said.

"For every week he is off it will put an extra strain on him when he comes back. Hartlepool will be the target but he needs a week's training before he is ready for that and he is not back in training yet.

"Troy was very good at Leyton Orient and at Yeovil and we will keep building on that. He has gained off the back of the extra work he has done during the summer. He's looking strong and effective so he will need to play for us and deserves to."

Across town Exeter Chiefs will be starting their maiden Premiership campaign against Gloucester at Sandy Park, but Tisdale does not expect that game to have an impact on City's gate.

He said: "I think there's enough people who support sport in Exeter to visit both grounds and give two big crowds."