The Board at Blue Square North club Stalybridge Celtic have announced that Jim Harvey has been appointed as their new manager with immediate effect.
Harvey has a fantastic reputation, not only a successful manager but also as someone who likes to play attractive and exciting football.
Harvey made his name at Morecambe, where he gained promotion to the Football Conference and narrowly missed out on getting them promoted to the Football League.
He then worked wonders at Forest Green Rovers where he guided them to eighth in the league.
He was also Northern Ireland assistant-manager.
Harvey has initially agreed to take us through to the end of the season and we will review matters at that stage.
Chairman Rob Gorksi said: “I must say that we feel terribly sorry for Benny. The players made it very clear that they wanted Benny to take over the reins after Steve left. The Board were happy to back both the players and Benny. On a personal note, I really hope he gets a clean bill of health next week and can take his seat as Jims number two.
“Chris Willcock leaves us with immediate effect and we thank Chris for him endeavours over the past few weeks and wish him every success in his future career.
“We have been inundated with applications over the past few weeks, without advertising the position. A decision was made on Wednesday afternoon to approach Jim Harvey after we felt we were unable to wait for Benny to return to the dug out.
“Jim was revered by the fans and player alike at his time at Chester and performed minor miracles at Forest Green Rovers. Some may remember him as assistant-manager when Sammy McIlroy was in charge of the Northern Ireland team. Jim commands huge respect and the Board feel he is the perfect guy to get everyone refocussed on our primary objective to get promoted in our Centenary Year.”
