Workington Reds’ new boss Chris Willcock will take charge of the team with immediate effect starting at Consett tomorrow.
Chairman David Bowden was delighted to get his man saying: “We had an impressive line-up of potential candidates, and after interviewing five of them it is absolutely no exaggeration to say that any one of them could have done a job here.
“I think Chris stood out because of his experience and strong record in building winning teams at this level.
“His work at Ramsbottom over the last couple of years is testament to this and his ambitions and desire to succeed were very obvious.
“I think everyone understands that this league will be a far more testing challenge this year in part due to the restructuring. There will be far more teams capable of mounting a serious challenge for promotion.
“We have the players capable of doing this and I believe we now have a new manager who is also clearly capable of leading the team.”
Willcock said: “There is a talented squad already here as everybody associated with the club has seen over the past couple of seasons, which unfortunately was curtailed due to Covid.
I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to be a part of the Reds and the hard work starts now, as we look to continue with success this season.
“During discussions with the club, we have spoken about short, medium and long term ambitions and I know the club’s vision aligns very much with mine and we now look to go and implement this. In everything we do we aim to give our fans a winning team and a successful period moving forward.”
It was also confirmed that Steven Rudd will remain at the club as assistant coach and chairman Bowden paid tribute to him saying: “Steven has done a great job in holding the fort whilst we conducted our search and gave us time to consider the manager without rushing into things.
“He is such a great club man and he will continue to play an important role moving forward.
“In conclusion our focus is now on the season ahead, to get out of this league will not be easy, but if players, staff, fans and, crucially, sponsors all come together, I believe we can make a very strong impression.”
