Bray Wanderers have appointed Mick Cooke as their new manager with the 63 year-old taking over at the troubled Wicklow club on an 18 month contract.

Cooke, who did well at Monaghan United and, in particular, Drogheda United with limited resources, was last in charge of Athlone Town where the club’s desperately poor start to last season cost him his job in April.

He succeeds Trevor Croly at the Carlisle Grounds where he inherits a squad that had collectively announced at the weekend that it had lost faith in the club's board. Despite that, results have been steadily improving since a difficult opening to the current campaign and chairman Denis O'Connor indicated on Monday that resources will be available to strengthen the squad.

O’Connor, however, faces challenges on other fronts with minority shareholders at the club resisting his effort to complete a takeover and attempting to mount a rival bid for control.

Against this background, Cooke’s first game in charge will be at home to Derry City on saturdat evening when a number of fans are planning to stage a demonstration prior to kick-off in protest at the way the club is being run.