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Marc joins the club from Belper United having led them to great success during his time there. He leaves them in second position in the United Counties Premier Division North League, the club’s highest position in its history, having previously gained promotion to the UCL Premier North via the playoffs in the 2021/22 season.

Marc is well known to many at the Moat Ground having been a former player for the club with 89 appearances between 2012 and 2014. He also notably played for several other club’s non-league levels at steps 3, 4 and 5 including Mickleover Sports, Leek Town, Belper Town and Heanor Town.

On the new appointment of the club’s new manager chairman Gary Norton commented, “Marc was a standout candidate for the role for a wide variety of reasons and we are delighted that he’s agreed to join us at the Moat Ground. Marc and his team are hungry and ambitious, and he’s demonstrated with the teams he’s managed to date an ability, within very modest means, to build squads capable of consistently outperforming and punching above their weight at the level they operate in. You only have to look at the job he has achieved to date at Belper United where he not only led them in the best position in the club’s history in terms of league position, but also this season the club has enjoyed its best ever run in both the FA Cup and FA Vase competitions.”

“Marc impressed our selection panel during a rigorous interview process which comprised of two very detailed interviews. Those board members involved in the selection panel were unanimous in the decision to offer the job to Marc and his team.”

“We had a lot of interest in the role and had subsequent discussions from a wide and varied background of candidates. The interest ranged from managers who are experienced at Step 4 and above to interest from young, ambitious up and coming developing managers operating at levels below. Whilst Marc is of course from the latter category this does not concern us in the slightest and we feel he is not only ready but fully deserves this opportunity we are giving him at step 4.”

“During our discussions with Marc he stood out in so many of the areas we identified as important for us when trying to identify our next manager. Having worked closely with Marc whilst manager when he was a player with us, I got to know his desire and character traits well and with those in mind I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together moving forwards in a different dynamic as a Manager/Chairman partnership”.

“Marc’s hunger and ambition to develop a team to be proud of on the pitch very much matches the ambition myself and the clubs board of directors have off the pitch for the years ahead. This shared ambition was another important factor in our decision to appoint Marc. Of course, we are not expecting things to change overnight as he’s coming into a football club that is in a period of transition both on and off the pitch in some respects. That said, over the coming weeks Marc, Thom and Lee will be working hard to assess our current squad, identify areas we may benefit from strengthening and work towards moving the team up the table.

During this time of transition, I’m sure our supporters will get behind Marc and afford him the time needed to settle in, assess where things are and work with the squad with the aim of getting us moving up the league table which is of course one of the short-term targets we have aligned on.”