THE new regime at Eccleshill is settling in and the club’s chairman of football Adrian Benson feels they are on the verge of a bright new era.

The Eagles have had an array of excellent and highly-qualified head coaches and have had the players from the Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy (RIASA) to boost their squad.

With a new draft of RIASA players, mixed with a core of local men and an even bigger backroom team, Benson is hoping the coming season will eclipse the success of last term.

Benson said: “The appointment of Dave Cope has added a whole new tier to the structure at the club. Mark Ellis is still the director of football and we are still in closely linked with the RIASA Academy.

“Dave won’t be overseeing things on match days – that will be the realm of Mark Tinker and his assistant/player Martin Devaney. However, Dave will be involved in every aspect of the club.

“He will be head coach and working with Mark Ellis but also scouting players and opponents and his son Liam will be the analyst.

"Dave has already formed the Junior Blues youth section, which has a growing number of players and has been very, very successful. We want that section to be closely linked with the seniors and be a route for local players to get into the first team.”

The club reached two cup finals last season winning one, the West Riding County Cup, which was testament to the coaching skills of Lee Duxbury. Even though the former Bantams midfielder has since moved on Benson expects the clubs progression to continue.

“We feel we have made some very, very good appointments which will be key to the further development of the club.

“Lee did a tremendous job and two of the players he helped reach their potential have gone on into the full time ranks.

"Goalkeeper Brendan Roslund is a pro in Malta, with a team coached by former West Ham player Tommy Taylor, and Ryan Jones has gone to Kemi Kings in Finland.

“There has been a steady flow of players moving on from this club because of the quality of players Mark Ellis is bringing to RIASA. Nahki Wells was briefly an Eccleshill player and others moved on to Kemi Kings before going on to bigger clubs elsewhere in Europe.

“We already have a good pedigree to keep up with but we believe we can do even better and have even more success.”