Richardson named new Accrington Stanley boss (From This Is Lancashire)

Richardson named new Accrington Stanley boss

11:55am Thursday 1st November 2012 in Sport

ACCRINGTON Stanley have appointed Leam Richardson as their new manager, on a two-and-a-half year deal.

The Reds this morning confirmed the 32-year-old will take permanent charge of the Reds to become the second youngest manager in the Football League.

It follows a second spell as caretaker manager, after Paul Cook's left for Chesterfield last week.

Richardson's first game  in his new role is the FA Cup first round tie at AFC Fylde on Saturday.

"It's a bit surreal to be honest," he said. "The conversations that we've had this week have gone really well and I'd like to thank the chairman Peter Marsden and Rob Heys, the board, the players, all of the staff and of course the fans for giving me this opportunity.

"This is fantastic and I'd like to think I could repay everyone with hard work and get some success at the club."

Richardson first arrived at the Crown Ground as a player in 2005 and was part of the team that won promotion to the Football League at the end of that season.

He went on to make almost 150 appearances for the club before taking temporary charge following the departure of John Coleman and Jimmy Bell to Rochdale in January, going on to be named as Paul Cook's assistant - a role he held for nine months.

Stanley's managing director Heys said: “As soon as Paul made the decision to leave Leam was always our first choice to make the step up and take over as the manager.

"As Paul’s assistant he has demonstrated all the qualities that we were looking for and I have no doubt that he will do a great job in his new role.”