John Reed and his assistant Mark Atkins suddenly left Wetherby Road on Thursday after an offer from Stalybridge Celtic to get them out of the Conference North relegation fight.
A search is now on for their replacements with names including Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister on Fotherby's wish list.
He said: "There's plenty of people out there who want this job and I have already been inundated with calls.
"I am looking for somebody good like Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister or Eddie Gray, I will be getting in touch with all of them."
Both Strachan and Gray still live in the vicinity.
"I'm still in shock really," added Fotherby. "For the money they offered him they could have taken the entire team but they are desperate and everything now hinges on him.
"It was a complete shock to everybody here and I am very disappointed in the fact that they never gave us a chance to try to persuade him to stay.
"They never contacted me to ask my permission to speak to him. It's been done very secretly and behind closed doors, I had no idea until Thursday afternoon."