Football: Challinor appointed as new Colwyn Bay FC manager

Jun 3 2010

IF experience and enthusiasm alone were enough to win prizes then new Colwyn Bay player-manager Dave Challinor could already make room in the trophy cabinet for some silverware.

The appointment of the former Tranmere Rovers defender to the Llanelian Road hot seat last week certainly went down a storm with Seagulls fans, many of whom had been calling for the man who skippered them to promotion last season to succeed Neil Young.

And while Challinor is sure to find management a whole new ball game, compared to playing, he has plenty of the vital ingredients needed to develop a Bay side that can compete with the best in the newly-sponsored Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division.

His selection is something of a gamble as Challinor has had no managerial experience, but the board clearly hope the appointment will provide some continuity and avoid an unsettling period for the players and possible wholesale changes to the squad ahead of a big season.

Challinor is bringing in 41-year-old Colin Woodthorpe, the former Chester City, Norwich City and Aberdeen defender, as assistant manager. The pair played together at Bury.

"Both myself and Colin are delighted to be given the opportunity to gain our first steps on the managerial ladder," said Challinor.

"We see this as a great challenge and a fantastic opportunity to continue the progress made at Colwyn Bay over the past 18 months."

He added: "We are under no illusions of what the task entails and it will take a lot of hard work and determination to be successful, but we are highly motivated and very ambitious to make an impact."

He stressed he hopes to keep as many of last season’s squad together as possible.

Unfortunately for Challinor three have already joined former Bay manager Young at his new club Chester FC.

Rob Hopley, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, Greg Stones and Stuart Graves have all decided to leave Colwyn Bay and follow Young and Gary Jones to the phoenix club.

On Challinor’s appointment Bay’s managing director Darren Cartwright commented: "We had some excellent candidates for the job and would like to thank everyone who applied, but Dave has all the qualities required to step up to the job and was the unanimous choice of the board.

"We felt that maintaining continuity for the forthcoming season was important. His leadership ability is unquestioned.

"As soon as we knew we had found the right man we decided to move quickly to make the appointment in order for on-the-field planning for the forthcoming season to commence as soon as possible."