ARCHIVE NEWS

Peter Davenport will today be named the new manager of Southport Football Club.

The former Manchester United and Sunderland striker resigned from his position in charge UniBond League One side Colwyn Bay yesterday evening.

Davenport, who was caretaker boss at Haig Avenue in 1997, has been selected to succeed Paul Cook, ending thirteen days of doubt and indecision.

The Sandgrounders were last night waiting to receive the all clear from the North Wales club and plan to introduce their new man to the press later this afternoon.

He is expected to be assisted by Alan Lewer, the former Forest Green Rovers boss.

Having spent most of his seven-year managerial career in the Welsh Premier League, Davenport now is charged with the immediate task of preserving Southport’s Nationwide Conference life.

The 45-year-old played under the stewardship of Brain Clough, Ron Atkinson and Sir Alex Ferguson, but with little practical experience of non-league’s top tier, he is faced with a daunting assignment.

Haig Avenue has been a desolate place this season and with just five league wins, Southport currently sit three points adrift of safety having played more games than two of the sides around them.

With only fifteen days until transfer activity concludes, Davenport has got to make a rapid assessment of his inherited squad before attempting to plunder the players who he thinks will help Southport avoid relegation.

It is undoubtedly a surprise decision and one that will provoke much debate. There will be questions as to whether the new boss can quickly recruit the required standard of signings and indeed if he has the credentials to lead a surge to survival.

But if Davenport is to accomplish mission improbable, then he must be given the wholehearted backing of the Haig Avenue support, regardless of any doubts that may have arisen.

Davenport is the club’s third full-time manager since the Sandgrounders lost their Football League status in 1978. The previous two - Cook and Mike Walsh - accrued just eleven wins from 31 matches between them.

The former Nottingham Forest player, however, is no stranger to Haig Avenue. Having scored eighteen goals in 49 appearances for the Sandgrounders towards the end of his playing career, he temporarily held the managerial reigns prior to the arrival of Ronnie Moore in 1997.

But that was Davenport’s last participation in Conference football. After playing for and then briefly managing Macclesfield Town, he spent four seasons as boss of Bangor City, before a switch to the UniBond Leagues at the start of this campaign.

Like his predecessor at Haig Avenue, Davenport enjoyed a playing career in the upper echelons of the English game. After being plundered from the West Cheshire Leagues by Nottingham Forest in 1981, he averaged a goal every other game during his five years at the City Ground and was capped once by England at senior level.

Born in Birkenhead, Davenport joined Manchester United in 1986 and netted twenty-two strikes following a £570, 000 move. After a short period at Middlesbrough, he was a defeated FA Cup finalist with Sunderland in 1992, before two seasons in Scotland with Airdrie and St. Johnstone.

Davenport then played for Stockport County, before representing Southport and Macclesfield Town, where he returned as manager in January 2000 as manager. His tenure at Moss Rose lasted just under twelve months and was sacked for refusing work in a capacity as joint-manager having won just thirteen of his 49 games in charge.

In 2001, Davenport took charge of Welsh Premier League side Bangor City, who he led to two successive third-place finishes, but resigned following a poor start to the 2005-2006 campaign.

Having made the move to Colwyn Bay in the summer, he leaves the club placed seventh in UniBond League One - three tiers below the Conference. The Seagulls are currently two points short of a play-off place, but have won just two of their last eleven games, losing a third of all matches played this season