SOUTHPORT chairman Charlie Clapham says Liam Watson's appointment as a director at the club is like “the prodigal son returning home”.
Watson is a legend at Haig Avenue having managed the club for almost ten years across two spells, winning the Conference North title twice, in 2005 and 2010.
He conoslidated the Sandgrounders in Non-league's top-flight before moving on in 2013 to manage AFC Telford and Stalybridge Celtic.
The former Burscough boss quit Stalybridge last week, and announced his intention to retire from management altogether.
While he has returned to Southport, he will not be heading into the dug-out, with Clapham saying he has joined as operations director and will assist the club's new boss when he has been appointed.
Alongside Watson, local businessmen David Barron and Nigel Alle have also been appointed onto the Sandgrounders' board of directors.
Chairman Clapham told the club's website: “The appointment of Liam Watson is like the prodigal son returning home.
“Liam managed the club for almost ten years in two spells at the club achieving two promotions by finishing as champions of the Conference North in 2005 and 2010, along with recruiting players like Carl Baker, Mark Duffy and Craig Noone who have all gone on to have superb careers in the Football League.
“Liam is joining the board as operations director. His role will be to work closely with the new manager in player recruitment and playing strategy. This will assist the manager enormously as Liam's record of recruiting talented players is second to none.
“To be clear, Liam has stated he has had his time as a manager and wants to move into the other side of football management. He will work tirelessly to help the manager and Southport Football Club to compete at the head of the Vanarama National League.
“We all realise this will take time but Liam with the support of the board knows the challenge and is up for this change to succeed.
“Liam will also work on the commercial and community side with our commercial and community director Haydn Preece. We recognise to be competitive we need to raise additional income.”
