WOODBRIDGE Town have acted swiftly to appoint a new three-man management team at the Ridgeons League Premier Division club.Glenn Read steps up from reserve team manager to be the new first-team boss, former Ipswich Town youth team player Andy Lawrence will be his assistant and Sean Thacker will be coach.

WOODBRIDGE Town have acted swiftly to appoint a new three-man management team at the Ridgeons League Premier Division club.

Glenn Read steps up from reserve team manager to be the new first-team boss, former Ipswich Town youth team player Andy Lawrence will be his assistant and Sean Thacker will be coach.

The appointments come hot on the heels of the departure of former Ipswich Town star Mick Stockwell, who quit the club on Monday after three-and-a-half years in charge.

Read, 47, a former player with Metaltec SIL side Achilles, managed Ipswich-based Bourne Vale from Under-10 through to Under-14 level, before taking charge of Woodbridge Town's Under-15, 16 and 18 sides. He assumed the mantle of reserve team coach at Woodbridge last season.

After a break from the local football scene 41-year-old Lawrence, whose son Jack plays for Woodbridge Under-16s, returned last season as assistant reserve manager to Read.

Thacker, who is 37 and a former Ipswich Town community coach, took over running the SETEC scheme at Copleston Sports College from founder Peter Trevivian a year-and-a-half ago.

Read said: “I am looking forward to it. I see it as a challenge as to how far I have come. Teaming up with Andy at reserve level last season worked very well and we will hopefully take it on from where Mick has left off and move the club forward as far as we can.”

Stockwell, who guided the club to a ninth-placed finish last season and was responsible for introducing several youngsters into the first team through Woodbridge's link with the SETEC scheme, stated that the club had “certain financial issues that it needs to sort out” after stepping down from his post on Monday.

Read admitted: “I am not sure how big the challenge will be because I am not fully aware of the financial side of things as yet. It will be a big ask, but Andy and I are two guys who will give it 100 per cent.

“The emphasis will be on further developing the club's youngsters like Ben Garnham, Luke Read, Ben Seaman and maybe goalkeeper Tom Ross as well.”

Lawrence said: “The club's youth policy has a strong foundation. It will be an exciting time for the youngsters who can make the progression through the ranks and into the first team.

“We will try to set our stall out with the belief that we will reap the rewards a few years down the line.”

The new management team will meet with the club's players tomorrow evening ahead of the club's FA Vase second round tie away to Wembley on Saturday.