John McGrath steps up to take charge at Mickleover Sports

FORMER Aston Villa and Burton Albion midfielder John McGrath has taken over as player-manager of Evo-Stik NPL Premier side Mickleover Sports.

McGrath, 36, joined the club last summer as a player and has now stepped up to replace bosses Glenn Kirkwood and Craig Hopkins who stepped down at the start of the week to spend more time with their families.

The duo kept Sports up in their debut NPL Premier season after promotion last term, finishing one spot and one point above the relegation places.

Irishman McGrath will now be tasked with continuing their good work and will be stationed at the club full-time while also overseeing Sports’ academy.

McGrath said: “I am delighted to take on the role of player-manager and head of academy at Mickleover Sports FC.

“I aim to deliver an exciting brand of football to the Don Amott Arena and look forward to a successful season and future at the club.

“I want to integrate the football club back in to the local community by using my knowledge of our excellent academy system and therefore developing talented local kids.

“Being club and team captain at Burton Albion for six years was a great insight into the leadership skills needed to succeed, not only as a great football manager but just as importantly as a great man manager.”

McGrath will also look after Mickleover’s new reserve side and chairman Don Amott added: “Our committee have taken the unusual step of not inviting applications for the position because we were so impressed with John’s vision for the first team and the academy.

“He also knows the current players well and is currently a coach in our academy. John meets all the criteria we had set, including developing the academy to produce first-team players and bringing back a more local base to the first team.

“We believe this will attract more supporters next season and raise the profile of our academy even further.”