Duo fly the nest

12:14pm Thursday 6th December 2007

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Troubled Tividale have swooped for Dudley Town manager Dean Whitehouse and his assistant Dave Smith as they look to put a disastrous November behind them both on and off the field.

Tivi manager Ross Hill decided an injection of fresh ideas will hopefully help turn the Beeches side's season around.

Whitehouse and Hill will be joint managers and Smith will take up the role of first team coach.

Hill has seen his early season West Midlands Premier Division pace-setters lose four out of their last five league fixtures as well as having his playing budget removed due to the club running into financial difficulties.

Hill said: "The club has had an horrendous November both on and off the field and I just thought it was now the right time to bring in some new faces.

"I know the two lads well and they know the club being local lads.

"I feel confident and comfortable the joint manager set-up will work well.

"Morale at the club has been a little low but I feel with these changes we have made we are beginning to turn the corner."

The new-look management line-up got off to a losing start on Saturday when they went down 2-1 at Ellesmere Rangers although Hill felt their performance deserved more.

Tivi will be away to struggling Gornal Athletic this Saturday (3pm kick off).

The Peacocks were beaten 3-1 by the managerless Robins on Saturday.

A Eleftherios Mouskos strike plus a brace from Christos Makris secured victory for the playing duo of Rob Perks and Ian Rowe, who have taken the reins on a caretaker basis.

Vice-chairman Steve Austin was shocked by Whitehouse's and Smith's decision to move on and announced they would not be rushed into replacing them.

Austin said: "It was certainly a bolt out of the blue to discover Dean had left but that's the nature of football at this level and everyone at Dudley Town Football Club wishes him all the best.

"We are lucky that Ian and Rob were willing to take over in a caretaker capacity and due to that we will not be rushing into an appointment.

"We are now advertising the position and have already had a number of applicants contact us but we will be ensuring we make an appointment that is in the best interests of the club."

Perks, aged 28, who along with Rowe was in charge of Saturday's win which keeps the Robins in fourth, is more than happy to help while a new boss is sought.

He said: "Me and Ian were more than willing to help to ensure the team matters are looked after properly until an appointment is made and we were delighted with the way the players responded on Saturday."

Meanwhile, Austin hopes the club will be able to return to the Dell Stadium by the end of January.

The Robins have been forced to play their home games away from the Dell while improvements to the floodlights are made.

This Saturday Town will play their only home game in December against Lye Town at their opponents' Stourbridge Road base.