Doddington United have announced Artur Saldanha as their new manager.

The 58 year old, from Portugal, has a wealth of coaching experience acquired from all over the world.

The Uefa Pro Licence qualified coach has been in charge of sides in South Africa and Mozambique. Closer to home, he has coached the under 16s and 17s at Hull City’s academy and FC Copenhagen.

He is taking over from Ashley Taylor, who led Doddington to successive promotions before joining Fen rivals Chatteris Town. The two clubs will meet in Kershaw Senior A this campaign.

Club secretary Kevin Casbon said the committee was impressed by Saldanha’s coaching qualifications.

He said: “We don’t really know a lot about him but he has been coaching all his life.

“He was living in Copenhagen but moved to Peterborough three months ago to be with friends and relations.

“We are hoping this will be a good move for the club. He has good qualifications. He’s even coached a blind team so he should be able to teach our players to play!”

Casbon admitted his appointment may be a gamble and that the club would see how it goes for a few months.

He said: “It could be quite challenging for the players because he will have a lot of different ideas about how things should be done. We don’t know what to expect so we’ll give it three months.

“To start with, he needs to get to know the players. With us playing at a higher level this year, we haven’t set targets.”

Pre-season training takes place at 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Doddington Recreation Ground. All players welcome.