Dave Cooke, new manager of Nantwich Town

David Cooke has been appointed the new manager of Nantwich Town, with current player Steve Jones as his assistant.

The club has moved swiftly to replace Phil Parkinson and Neil Sorvel, who announced their departure to Altrincham just over a week ago.

A clubs spokesman said they received a large volume of applications for the vacant posts.

“It was a difficult decision but one made easier by the strengths of the new management team as a combination, a team we believe will be successful after a comprehensive application and interview process,” said the spokesman.

Danny Griggs stays at Weaver Stadium as the assistant first team coach, and Nigel Deeley will be coach and coach mentor.

Cooke has experience of management at various levels of non-league football, including the National Conference where he was part of the management team that kept Northwich Victoria in the league.

He went on to become assistant manager at Shrewsbury Town after they dropped out of the football league and gained promotion back to the league at the first attempt.

Cooke was also instrumental in giving debuts to the likes of Joe Hart (Man City and England) and Dave Edwards (Wolves).

The club spokesman added: “He is well-known locally and on the non-league scene and he understands the club and its supporters, the NTFC ethos.

“He has retained his close contacts with both league and non-league clubs and has spent considering time scouting players that could perform well at Evo Stik Premier level and was indeed the man that recommended Ibou Touray to the club.”

Pre-season 2016 AFC Fylde - Steve Jones, Nantwich Town v Bamber Bridge

Jones joined Nantwich Town as a player in 2014, after a successful career including 29 Northern Ireland full internationals and clubs such like Burnley and Crewe Alexandra.

He obtained his UEFA “A” licence for coaching and is a full time youth coach at Crewe.

Griggs was part of the famous 2006 FA Vase winning team and has been a big part of Parkinson’s coaching team since his appointment in two and a half years ago.

Deeley is a fully qualified UEFA “A” coach and has been coaching at a senior level for many years. This includes both coaching players and mentoring coaches.

He also runs the MMU Football Academy, and will assist with coaching the first team and supporting Jones and Griggs.

The Dabbers Chairman Tony Davison said: “I am pleased Dave has accepted the role of manager.

“He has put together a very strong local team which I believe will give us the continuity we were looking for.

“We were very keen to build on the success of the past two years and I firmly believe that this new team will do just that.”

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