Grateful for chance to return to Moss Rose

MARK Kennedy has expressed his gratitude at being given a chance after he was named as the new boss of Macclesfield Town.

Kennedy has been appointed on a deal that initially runs until the end of the season, having previously had spells as an academy coach at Manchester CIty, a first team coach at Ipswich Town and a coach with Wolves U23 side.

He replaces Daryl McMahon at the Moss Rose following his resignation, and Kennedy is ready to get going with his new side.

“I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity by the club, so I am really pleased about that,” Kennedy told the club’s official website.

“From my perspective I am just really, really keen to get out there on the grass and get some minutes and some hours and some good work in with the players.

“I am grateful to work at the club with the players and the current staff. I have also brought Danny Butterfield in with me as a big plus, and I am just looking forward to coaching.

“I was very fortunate in the respect that I was here over a year ago. I wasn’t here for long for various reasons, but I really enjoyed the club and when I left the club I explained to the chairman at the time my reasons for leaving, but I said that hopefully one day my path and journey with Macclesfield will meet again, and I have followed things closely from there on in.

“Obviously a couple of things have happened in between so that opportunity presented itself, so I was fortunate to have some inside experience previously and I loved it here, it was really good, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was really grateful for it so it was always something that was on my radar or in the back of my mind if the opportunity arose, I wouldn’t hesitate.

“I live in Alderley and I have lived there since

1999 so that as well,with it being a local club, I’m not someone who is always blindsided by watching the Premier League and all of that, so I had an interest in what was going on with the local community, so it’s something that we are very familiar with.

“I left the club some time ago but I kept in contact with people and staff on a generic basis, and when Daryl McMahon resigned and moved on for whatever reason, the club contacted me and asked if I would have a chat and I didn’t hesitate.

“From there on in, things progressed, I didn’t get involved in anything else, my only interest was in myself and the club and everything was very smooth and very good.

“I am very pleased with it and if they had chosen to go with someone else I would have shaken their hand and thanked them for the opportunity to speak; but thankfully they have seen something positive in myself, which is good, because I have seen that within the club, and that led to me standing here.”