Pitchero Non League

...previously led them to the Blue Square Bet South title in 2008.

King commented: “I’m really happy to be back. Now I want to build something going forward. It’s going to be an amazing time.”

A rigorous set of criteria was applied to all candidates considered; all were told they’d need to work with the same, set playing budget.

The club also ensured that the cost of each candidate’s proposed management team fitted within a clear budget. King himself has taken a significant drop in pay to enable his return to the Dripping Pan.

Clearly, the next most important factor was a judgment on the likely footballing success of each candidate based on track record and their plans as laid out in interviews.

The selection panel also assessed the overall contribution that each candidate and their coaching team might make to the community engagement objectives of Lewes and its long-term ambitions to develop a viable base of Sussex players via a strong youth set-up and Academy.

Community Board member Alex Leith said: "We're delighted to welcome Steve King back as manager of Lewes FC, after carefully considering his profile against what was a surprisingly strong list of candidates.

"We chose Steve because we felt that the positive footballing style his teams tend to espouse epitomizes and underpins the forward-thinking community-oriented nature of the club, as it moves forward into a new era.”

Chairman Steve Ibbitson added: “This has been a challenging process and we’ve interviewed some very good people. Our supporters have been great over three difficult years and they deserve to see us winning more matches as well as playing good football and we think this gives us the best possibility of that.

"Of course, we will also continue to operate on a sound financial basis, whilst at the same time building for our future, especially through our Youth set up.”

King will be joined at Lewes by assistant-manager Justin Skinner.

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