DAVID WEBB believes he is “more than ready” for his first management role in football after taking charge at York City.

Webb arrives at York with a wealth of experience in youth football and in off-field roles at clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton and AFC Bournemouth.

The 45-year-old has however never managed in a first-team capacity and faces a huge task at City, both in attempting to succeed the immensely popular John Askey, who was sacked to the dismay of the club’s fanbase last month, and in turning around a flagging season amid a current eight-match winless run.

“I’m more than ready now to take on the challenge,” insisted Webb, who takes charge from Monday.

“I’ll fuse all my experience together and there’s a lot that I can bring to York.

“That’s on the pitch in terms of performances and results but also around the club, helping it to build and grow forward.”

Having spent 20 years in football learning his trade, Webb believes now is the right time for the step up to management.

“As a young player, I wasn’t good enough to make it, but I always wanted to stay in the game,” he recalled.

“At 21, I found myself on the academy circuit with Crystal Palace and Tottenham and my drive was always to be the best manager I could be.

“But what I wanted to do was build an education platform. I know how to coach, I know how to recruit and I know how to manage.

“I’ve also got a Masters in Sports Psychology for the human side of things and how to work with players and people.

“I’ve also worked with some world-class coaches like Eddie Howe and Mauricio Pochettino.”

Having sat in the Vanarama National League play-offs in October, York have slid down the table to now find themselves in 17th.

City have failed to keep a clean sheet since the 1-0 home win over Torquay United and have not scored twice in a league match since the 5-0 rout at Barnet - both of those victories coming in early October.

“We’ve analysed a lot of games and we’ve watched a lot of games live as well,” said Webb.

“We feel like there’s a lot of quality and strength within the team. Results might not have showed that over the last couple of months.

“But if you look at the start of the season, that was really positive. The players were playing really well, so we want to get them back up.

“In the short term, we’re looking to improve results obviously. But in the longer term, we want to build something for the future.

“Ultimately though, we want results in the first few months. We want to impact the players and help them develop and help them get to get to better levels.

“Hopefully if we can start to do that, we’ll have an upward trajectory up the league.”

Speaking on the York website, chairman Glen Henderson explained that Webb being aligned to the club’s “long-term vision” was key to the appointment.

“I look at the club, the stadium and the fact that it is a one-club city and I think it’s got so much potential in a lot of areas,” said Webb.

“With the Academy, we’re looking to see what we can do with the top youth players, if we can bring them into the first-team set-up.

“We want to build a real fell-good factor around the club. That’s a long-term project for me.

“I can bring a lot of skills to the role. Ultimately, it’s about the first-team, but also about the academy production, building the club and looking to go forward. It’s a real exciting project.”