Good luck at Worcester. How do you feel about the appointment?

I am delighted to get back into management. I know Worcester City well and it is a big club in Non-League circles. They should be at least a Conference side and the incentive is to take Worcester up to where they should be.

You are a local lad, aren’t you?

I was born in the Worcestershire area, I used to watch Worcester City play as a youngster and then I played for the club at the age of 16 before turning professional. So I’ve got my connections and hopefully I can do a good job and put the club back on the map.

You’ve been playing in the Conference for Carlisle this season and doing well for them. Was it a wrench to leave?

Yes it was a very difficult decision. Carlisle couldn’t guarantee me a contract for next year. So I had to look at the option of going to Worcester. If Carlisle had offered me another year, I probably would have stayed. It is a fantastic club and I had a great time there. But looking at the long-term picture, that is going to be in management so I thought Worcester was the choice to take.

Worcester are a real sleeping giant. It is not long since they were a bigger club than the likes of local rivals Kidderminster and Cheltenham is it?

This is the thing. Unfortunately, those teams have gone past Worcester and gained Football League status. But I feel that Worcester are a bigger club than Kidderminster and Cheltenham. The potential is there to move on and it is just a case of realising that potential. That is one of the main reasons that attracted me to the club. It is not going to happen overnight but there is a chance of taking the club onwards and upwards. If we can get the foundations right, we can compete with the likes of Kidderminster and Cheltenham.

There is some talk about moving to a new stadium. How important would that be for Worcester City?

It would be a massive boost. The money that could be generated from a ground move would help us a lot on the field with the players we could bring in. The club have big ambitions and hopefully a ground move can happen in the next couple of years. Obviously, it would mean that the team would go from strength to strength and we would attract more fans through the gate at a nice new stadium.

Worcester are members of the new Nationwide North. What do you think of the new division?

It is creating a lot more interest and the football is of a high standard. There are some good players involved and it is a tough division.

So it is going to take a lot of hard work to climb the league and get out of it. But I am confident that we can get a team together that will compete in the Nationwide North and win promotion.

You have inherited a side in the lower half of the table. So what are your immediate hopes?

To get some results on the board and get ourselves moving in the right direction. When you take over as manager at a club, most of the time the situation arises because the team have been struggling. That is what I have inherited. But I am sure we can turn the situation around in the next few weeks.