DARLINGTON have appointed former Newcastle United defender Steve Watson as their new manager.

Watson, who has signed a contract to the end of the season, takes over at Blackwell Meadows with Quakers struggling in the National League North relegation zone in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Scarborough Athletic.

That game proved to be Danny Rose’s only match in caretaker charge, with Watson having been appointed as the permanent successor to Josh Gowling, who was sacked last week.

Having spent almost a decade as a player with Newcastle, North Shields-born Watson also had spells with Aston Villa, Everton, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday before moving into coaching.

He worked on the backroom staff at Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City before getting his first managerial job at Gateshead in 2017. He was appointed as boss of York City in January 2019 and spent almost three years in charge of the Minstermen, narrowly missing out on winning promotion to the National League when Covid intervened.

His most recent managerial spell came at the helm of National League North side Chester City, and he had been working with Newcastle’s academy set-up prior to being offered the chance to take over at Darlington.

“It’s been a very difficult week for the club, and we’re now proud to announce Steve as our new manager,” said Darlington chief executive David Johnston. “Steve has worked for clubs in this league and has a proven track record. He understands what this league is all about, and what needs to be done.”

With Rose having left the club after three years as a player and coach, Watson’s first game in charge of Darlington comes on Saturday when they make the long journey to King’s Lynn.

He inherits a side that have won just one of their last eight matches, a sequence that featured back-to-back losses to Scarborough as well an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Chorley.

Quakers have failed to score in six of their last ten outings, so sparking an improvement in front of goal will be one of 49-year-old Watson’s key priorities as he looks to turn his new side’s fortunes around.

“I’ve thought long and hard about my career,” said Watson. “I took a step back for a year or so and started coaching at the academy in Newcastle just to learn different ways of coaching, and I’ve had some fantastic experiences with some great people there.

“But always at the back of my mind was to want to go back to really competitive football, and this is an opportunity that’s hopefully tailor-made for me.”

Watson watched Saturday’s defeat to Scarborough, which saw Harry Green score the only goal of the game shortly after the hour mark, and feels that rebuilding confidence is an essential requirement of his new role.

“I just thought it was a team, at the moment, really lacking in confidence and belief,” he said. “That’s probably one of the first things we need to turn round, but belief and confidence comes with results so that first win, hopefully with the way we’re going to start to play, will give them the belief that they can do it.

“I’m hopefully going to bring in an assistant who, if he agrees to it, will be every bit as experienced in this league as me. We need to really get to work, and the players need to buy in to what we’re doing because we’ve both done it before.

“We’ve both joined very good clubs like this in difficult situations, and managed to turn it around. Granted, this is probably more difficult than usual, but I wouldn’t be here if it was something I didn’t believe we could achieve.”