I am pleased to announce that Paul Phillips and Steve Halford are the new joint managers of Stalybridge Celtic Football Club. The club received high quality offers from as far apart as the U.S.A. and Italy with also many high quality local "names" too.

But Steve and Phillo stood out and their hunger, passion and professionalism meant that the whole board was unanimous in wanting them to join. We also welcome Dave Noble and Phil Sherwood who will be our new coaches and scouts. The four of them have been a very successful unit at Ashton United and we are delighted that they have signed.

Dave and Phil will begin immediately, but we have respected Ashton's request for Paul to play for them in the F.A. Cup tomorrow and so he and Steve join us on Monday.

Phillo and Steve have a fantastic team ethos that will permeate through the club. They are meticulous in their preparation and never except anything other than 100% total effort and commitment – from the whole club! I am confident that they will lead us to better times.

In response, Paul said "Myself and Steve are delighted to be appointed managers of this highly prestigious football club. We hope that with the help of the board, the staff and the fans, we can put this club back where it belongs as one of the elite non-league clubs. We will both leave no stone unturned to achieve this goal. There is no quick fix, but we will be working 24/7 to firstly stabilise and then push on as one, to try and achieve all the targets expected off everyone associated with our football club".

There is a "Meet the Manager(s)" evening this Monday (5th September) in the Sponsors Lounge commencing at 19.30.