SPENNYMOOR Town have ushered in a new era this week with the appointment of management duo Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, as the pair took their first training session with their new squad last night.

Johnson and Morley’s appointment was confirmed on Sunday morning bringing a swift conclusion to a week-long search after Tommy Miller parted ways with Moors last Sunday.

The pair have had an extensive career in non-league having taken Salford City through the divisions with three promotions before leaving in 2018, despite the fact they took club to the National League, following ‘irreconcilable differences’ in contract negotiations.

A new challenge awaited them at Chester who themselves had ambitions of achieving promotion. However, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted two campaigns in charge with the National League North declaring the 2020/21 season null and void.

Their departure from the Deva Stadium was announced last month following a run of poor results, including a shock 4-1 FA Cup replay defeat to locals Marske United.

The challenge of turning Moors back into promotion contenders following a rough couple of months at the Brewery Field is an ambition that the pair feel is very much aligned with their own.

Johnson, 38, said: “We saw Tommy (Miller) leave his job last week, we made contact with Jason (Ainsley) to explain that we would be interested in the job.

“You hear about rumours of the football club and their ambitions and there is no secret to that. Over the last few years with what Spennymoor want to do and the owners want to do.

“We came up last week for an interview with the Chairman and to be honest he blew us away with his ambitions. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in an interview like that with where he wants to take the football club, how it’s run, how it’s got to where it is now.

“Everything was in line with our ambitions of where we want to get to. When Bernard and I started in 2009, when Brad (Groves) first took over the Spennymoor, we’ve almost come through a similar paths in the leagues.

“It felt to us like the perfect club at the right time for us coming out of Chester a few weeks back.

“We had a few phonecalls from a number of clubs but we wanted to find the right one.

“The big one was stepping outside of our comfort zone. Obviously it’s a couple of hours from where we live but we back ourselves enough to believe that we can come up here and start something new. A long term journey that we can max out the ambitions that the club have got.”

The pair took their first training sessions with their new team last night and will be with the squad again on Thursday evening ahead of the first game in charge this weekend, which comes against Radcliffe Borough in the FA Trophy.

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They’ll return to the bread and butter of Spennymoor’s season in the National League North on Boxing Day when they’ll encounter one of their biggest games of the season when they host rivals Darlington.

The work starts now for the pair but they also believe they have a head start.

Morley admitted: “It’s a very similar style of play. When we’ve played against them, it’s never been route one football. Both sides have tried to get the ball down and compete well against each other.

“The two games we played against them last season, one being in the FA Cup at Chester, was a very good game. When we come here (Brewery Field), it was unfortunate to get beat very late on.

“Both sides have good players and when you talk about creating a style of play, we’re fortunate to come into a team where we’ve got two or three of the best players in the league.

“That’s a massive plus for us and we’re really looking forward to it.”