FORMER player Nicky Spooner has returned to Hyde United after being named the Tigers’ new manager.
Also returning to the Project Solar Stadium is Gavin McCann as first-team coach – he was assistant manager to Scott McNiven when Hyde were in the National League.
Martyn Coyne, who was former manager Jim Gannon’s assistant, will remain in the post.
Spooner, 50, is ready for the challenge of a relegation fight in Northern Premier League, premier division.
He has seen Hyde play at least half a dozen times this season as he had been helping his friend Jamie Milligan who is manager at Bamber Bridge where his son Callum plays.
Spooner, who spent 17 years at Bolton Wanderers working from the academy to first team when Phil Parkinson, was a spectator at last Saturday’s home win against Warrington Town.
He said: “From what I have seen, I have been left thinking what are we doing in that position?
“We have some very good players and performances have been there. They have always been in games, but perhaps a little mistake or conceding a late goal has cost them.
“I don’t think we are far away, but we are in a relegation battle and every game is very important.
“There is no time to waste but hopefully we can turn things round.”
Spooner, who is a football coach at Calderdale College and runs FC Halifax Town’s youth team, added he has been told there is great spirit in the dressing room, and he is looking forward to working with the players.
He is reunited with McCann as the pair worked together in the academy at Bolton for about 10 years.
“Gavin knows the club having enjoyed success with Hyde and he is somebody with great experience and who I can trust,” he said.
Spooner, who played for Hyde when Steve Waywell was manager in the early 2000s, added he had also been struck by the passion assistant manager Coyne has for the club.
In a statement, the club said: “The board of Hyde United are pleased to announce a new management team of Nick Spooner, manager; Martin Coyne, assistant manager, and Gavin McCann as first team coach, initially to the end of the current season.
“The existing backroom staff of Chris Shaw, goalkeeping coach; Nick Donnelly, strength and conditioning coach, and Lucy Graves, club physiotherapist, will continue in their roles.
Spooner played league football for Bolton, Oldham Athletic and Chester City as well as a spell in the United States with Charleston Battery.
However, he never fully recovered from a double leg fracture which was sustained early in his career.
In his 17-years at Bolton, he took temporary charge of the first team when the club was in danger of folding at the start of the 2019-20 season and, assisted by Under-18 coach McCann, they fielded the youngest side in the club’s history against Coventry City.
Coyne, 43, chairman of Hyde United Juniors which has 34 teams, has been on the first-team coaching staff since Dave McGurk brought him on board.
McCann, 44, played more than 300 games in the Premier League for Everton, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Bolton where most recently he was U18 coach.