Mark Morsley has taken over as manager of Harwich and Parkeston.

The former Needham Market, AFC Sudbury and Brantham Athletic boss is in the hot seat at The Royal Oak with immediate effect, having spent this season in charge of Brantham in Ridgeons League division one.

His arrival at Harwich means Tony Armstrong, who had only taken over from Richard Elms two weeks ago, will move upstairs into a Director of Football role.

However, the club was keen to stress that Armstrong was instrumental in bringing in Morsley.

Armstrong took the manager’s role when Elms left to provide stability at the club.

But with Morsley keen to become boss, Armstrong was happy for him to do so.

Morsley was with Harwich eight years ago when he said he was keen to be manager then, but had to make do with managing the club’s reserve side.

But now he is back and has the top job and he told the Gazette he wants to restore Harwich and Parkeston to its former glory.

He said: “Harwich and Parkeston is more of a real football club than many others. It has a fantastic history but it is not all about what has happened in the past – it is about making it a good club again.

“It is important that we get people to come down and watch again and to do that we have to provide a brand of football that people want to come and watch.

“The target for the first season is to stay up in the Ridgeons League premier division but the be-all and end-all is a change of ethos at the club to get people to watch.

“Both of my previous clubs enjoyed their highest attendances while I was manager, although they also enjoyed successful periods.”

Harwich and Parkeston chairman Barry Vernon said he is delighted to have such a successful manager as Morsley at the club.

Vernon has been involved with the club for 40 years and he told the Gazette: “We had a meeting and Mark put his cards on the table.

“After a phone meeting between the committee we were pleased to announce that Mark will take over with immediate effect.

“Knowing Tony Armstrong like I do, he agreed to take over after Richard Elms resigned for the stability of the club. He is well respected by all but he did say that he was willing to stand aside if a better deal came along.

“He comes with an extremely successful managerial record having led Needham Market to a top six place in the Ridgeons League premier division and he has two very successful seasons at AFC Sudbury where they reached the Ryman League division one north play-offs in both seasons.

“We have moved swiftly to appoint him, as managers of Mark’s calibre are not available very often.

“Mark is very switched on. He knows the players in the area and we have one of the lowest budgets in the Ridgeons League so it is hard to attract players.”

Vernon added that Morsley will be given the same budget that Armstrong and Elms had before him.

“He wanted a new challenge and we are only too pleased to give him the opportunity,” said Vernon.

“We all agreed it is the way forward for the club.”