Former Norwich City, Cambridge United, Brentford and Luton Town player Michael Spillane excited for first managerial job at Cambridge City

After an almost four-week long process, Cambridge City have ended their managerial hunt.

The Lilywhites had been without a boss since the decision was taken to part company with Jamie Cureton on 17 September with the club languishing in the Isthmian League North Division relegation zone and out of the FA Cup.

As anticipated, interest in the vacancy was high, which in turn meant that the City board wanted to take its time to ensure that they got the right person for the role.

And in Mickey Spillane, there is a confidence at the FWD-IP Community Stadium that they now have a manager in place that can go a long way to delivering the long-term aim of Step 2 football.

Spillane, a former Cambridge United player who also had stints with Norwich City, Brentford and Luton Town among others, has spent the last few seasons as the assistant manager at National League South side Chelmsford City, many of which were served under ex-City striker Robbie Simpson.

But now the 36-year-old is striking out on his own – and City felt like the perfect club to start out.

“It’s (management) something that obviously has always been in the back of my mind,” said the former Comberton Village College pupil, who will take charge of his first game this Saturday (18 October) away at Witham Town.

“I’ve been an assistant for five or six years, so I’ve done it for a good while now and when this opportunity came up it just ticked all the boxes in terms of what I’m looking for.

“It’s an ambitious club. They’ve got a new stadium and it’s a really good board, so there’s good people behind it that are ambitious and so am I.

“I want to manage as high as I can and this, for me, is a great opportunity to do that.”

The size of City’s ambition was there for all to see in the statement earlier this week that confirmed Spillane’s appointment.

Despite the team currently being in the bottom four with just two victories to their name following last night’s defeat at league-leading Maldon & Tiptree, a play-off challenge remains the target this term.

The gap to the top five currently stands at 12 points, but Spillane is firmly on board with that goal.

“I’ve been looking at the team for the last few weeks and there’s some good players there, but also we’re in the position we’re in for a reason,” he added.

“There will probably have to be changes, but the ambition is still to make the play-offs. That’s the club’s goal, I share that, and that’s what I’ll tell the players.

“Short term first of all it’s about stabilising and getting the squad that we want together. It will take some patience, even from me because I’m looking ahead to the weekend (versus Witham Town) and I’d love everything to be in place, but that’s not going to happen.

“If we can make a challenge for the play-offs then that would be brilliant and we should always set our bar high.

“We want a group of players that is as proud to play for Cambridge City as I am to manage them. If we can get that then we’ll have a good chance of having a successful season.”