Cockerill, 43, was confirmed as the new boss at Kingfield on Friday. The former Lincoln, Swindon, Sheffield United, Southampton and Leyton Orient midfielder had been caretaker manager for a month following the departure of Geoff Chapple from Woking. And although Cockerill has only won one match so far, the heavy defeats from the early part of the season have disappeared.

Now multi-millionaire chairman Ingram feels that the club must climb away from the Conference relegation zone and build for a stronger future. Ingram said:" I was pleased to confirm Glenn Cockerill as our new manager. We have amended his existing contract, which runs to the end of the season - on improved terms.

"Our results under Glenn as caretaker were disappointing - there is no question about that. We had one very good win against Chester, a defeat at Telford and a big disappointment in the FA Cup - losing to Dover. But we are not leaking goals in such huge numbers anymore and when we do go behind the lads carry on fighting.

Earlier in the season, a goal against would lead to an incredible collapse and it was clear that morale was low.

"The attitude now is immeasurably better. Glenn has been putting a lot of work in between the games, which the fans don't see. We want to 'professionalise' the club more and we feel Glenn is the man to do that.

"The players are now training together in the mornings, rather than just in the evenings. So we can have a much better go at match preparation. Many of the lads are available for morning training and they are responding well to it." This is the embryonic development of Woking becoming a full-time professional outfit. Ingram believes his club need to move with the times if they are to become one of the championship challengers in the future.

He said:" It is very significant that the leading teams in the Conference title race this season are those with a full-time set-up. So we have committed ourselves to making a decision on going full-time by the end of the year. To decide if we go professional, we need to decide if it is affordable. And we haven't yet calculated those sums.


"Once we do though, we will see how our existing players feel. Some of the lads will look forward to it and others will have problems because they have other jobs. So the players will have to plan their lives in the same way that we have to plan the future of the club."

In addition, Woking have appointed former Wycombe Wanderers and Kingstonian defender Matt Crossley as Cockerill's assistant. The chairman is also pleased with this development.

"Glenn Cockerill has huge League experience - he played over 800 professional games, mostly at a very senior level. But Matt Crossley has a similar record at the non-League level. So we think that this is a very good blend. Between them, Glenn and Matt have just about all the connections and contacts you could hope for. So hopefully we have found the recipe for success."

Woking drew 0-0 at home to Barnet on Saturday in Cockerill's first game in charge on a permanent basis.