ANDY Patterson has never been far away from Dennyfield, even when he was a young striker at Bradford City, and he will be back in the Thackley dugout at home games in the coming season.

Patterson has accepted the role of assistant manager and is now manager Chris Reape's right-hand man.

"I can't get away, can I?" he said with a smile and a wink – yet he would not want to as he loves the club and is part the fabric.

"I'm glad to be back and looking forward to being number two again. I'm happy that I've got the time to commit to a bigger role with the club.

"I've always been involved over the years but my work situation is changing at the start of next month and I'll be working normal hours again.

"What I mean is, it's not shift work and I don't have to work weekends, so the day job won't get in the way of my involvement here. I'll be able to make every training session and every game, so it's worked out well."

Patterson is no stranger to management and has held roles at Thackley and neighbours Eccleshill United. The opportunity to step back into the dugout arose with the departure of Paul Clayton, who was Reape's long-term assistant.

It was another work-related issue that led to Clayton leaving Dennyfield and the club thanked him for going the extra mile to reach the end of last season. He has moved on to a new chapter in his life and his football career now allows him to work closer to home.

Clayton accepted a job offer from his local club Knaresborough Town, to where the Dennyboys travelled for their opening pre-season friendly last Saturday.

Patterson said: "Chris needed someone with him after Paul left and I was in the right place at the right time, so I'm delighted to accept.

"Paul's gone to Knaresborough. Their ground is five or ten minutes away from his house and their gain is Thackley's loss really because he is that good at what he does and he did a great job for this club.

"Again that was also down to the day job. Paul didn't have a change but he gained a promotion which brought a much-increased workload. I think that means Paul deserves extra credit for what he did for Thackley towards the end of last season.

"Everyone here wishes him all the best with his new club and it was nice for us to meet Knaresborough first up. It felt good for me to be back and I can't wait for the season to start now."