GARETH DAVIES has been appointed Fairford Town FC's new first team manager.

Davies, 35, spent around eight seasons as a Fairford Town player and will be assisted by Ady Roper – who also enjoyed an extended playing spell at Cinder Lane. They will be joined by Darren McCluskey as first team coach.

Davies said: "Myself and Ady are over the moon. We said to each other when the job came up that it would be an honour to come back here as manager.

"The times we played out here we loved every minute of it. It is an honour, it really is. I think of Fairford as my club and the people behind the scenes work tirelessly and to have that support will be fantastic."

With pre-season training beginning on Tuesday, June 24, the former Malmesbury Victoria boss will get straight to work recruiting players for the new 2014/15 Hellenic Division One West campaign, together with welcoming back and getting to know members of the existing squad.

"We do need to get tucked into players as quickly as we can, new and old," said Davies. "Hopefully we can convince a good number of the Fairford lads that were here last season to stay, and we can bring a number we had with us at Malmesbury, too. With a few other additions, it should be a promising mix.

"Our aim is to create an environment where players will want to come and put the shirt on for Fairford. Decent players attract better players and that's the aim.

"Players should want to come here and be able to develop over a few seasons and then they can move on to the next level, hopefully with us here at Fairford or further up the divisions."

Fairford president Mike Tanner said: "I am delighted to welcome back Gareth, Ady and Macca – all three being former long-serving Fairford Town players.

"Their appointment continues the trend of appointing former players into the management role whenever possible, with the likes of Gerry Kelly and Mark Webb previous success stories.

"Gareth and his team have all our good wishes and support going into the new season which we are very excited about both on and off the pitch."