CHRIS Turner was unveiled as County's new boss at a press conference on Saturday morning following the initial announcement of his appointment which came at around tea-time on Friday.

Sheffield-born Turner, who turned 46 in September, spoke at length during the briefing, and was later welcomed by fans at a forum in Edgeley Park's Pavilion Suite.

He said: "It's not going to be easy for us to stay up, there's a lot of work to be done throughout the club. But I've always relished challenges, that's what football management is all about.

"It's very rare a new manager takes over a team who's winning every week, but there's nothing I fear here. I'm a hard-working person, I always have been.

"I'm confident that I can get people coming back to Edgeley Park in their numbers."

Turner added: "From what I've seen of the players, they are clearly lacking in confidence and self-belief, but it only takes a couple of quick wins to restore that confidence.

"There will be ups and downs, but we're definitely still in with a fighting chance."

Turner had a distinguished playing career as he kept goal at Sheffield Wednesday (twice), Lincoln City, Sunderland, Manchester United, Leeds United and Leyton Orient - totalling 490 football league appearances.

The fully-qualified UEFA coach then stepped into the hot-seat at Hartlepool United at the end of February 1999, his first solo managerial post in the league after a successful spell as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers' youth team under Mark McGhee.

Formerly joint manager of Leyton Orient during troubled times alongside John Sutton, Turner's first task at Victoria Park was to preserve the club's league status, which he was just able to achieve with a strong finish to the 1998/99 season. He then began to look towards building a team capable of achieving promotion to Division Two and came close in each of the following three seasons.

A seventh-placed finish in 1999/2000 saw Turner's team claim the last play-off spot, but they were beaten by north-east rivals Darlington.

The next season saw Hartlepool finish fourth, just outside the automatic promotion places despite six wins in their last ten games. Had Chesterfield received a more punitive penalty for alleged financial irregularities, Turner's men would have been promoted automatically, but they entered the play-offs once again needing to beat Blackpool in the semis.

The Seasiders won through to the final of the Nationwide League Division Three play-offs and eventually won promotion, but Turner can at least take heart that it took the best of the bunch to kill off the challenge his team mounted.

It was a similar story in the 2001-02 season, when Hartlepool again reached the play-offs but were beaten by eventual winners Cheltenham.

Looking to avoid further heartache, Turner hoped to gain automatic promotion and got off to a fantastic start in 2002-03, taking his team to the top of the table in the first quarter of the campaign.

Turner always seemed destined to manage at a higher level and was linked with several vacancies during his four-year tenure with Hartlepool.

However, it was the lure of a return to his home-town and the chance to manage the club he supported as a boy that tempted him away from Victoria Park.

Aware of the financial problems at Sheffield Wednesday - with the club '23million in debt - Turner's new challenge was indeed a daunting one, and one that sadly came to a close in September. But Turner is now back to hopefully work the same wonders at Edgeley Park as he did at unfashionable Hartlepool, starting on Boxing Day with the home game against Bristol City.

He added on Saturday: "I am very proud to have been offered the chance to manage Stockport County. Survival in League One is the challenge I have accepted and it is one that I genuinely believe to be possible.

"Looking beyond the next 25 games however, I am joining a club that has real potential to become a vibrant, well-supported, community-based club that County fans can be proud to support."

Cheshire Sport Owner Brian Kennedy added: "Chris impressed me greatly. He presented a comprehensive development plan for the club, both on and off the field, and it is clear to me that he understands precisely what is needed to build a club at this level.

"It is also clear to me that in Chris Turner we have appointed a manager who will work day and night to improve this club."

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