CALLINGTON Town have announced that experienced manager and player Dean Cardew will be joining the club next season.

The 35-year-old will be join up with Gary Williams to run the South West Peninsula Premier Division team after replacing Steve Metters who retires at the end of the current campaign.

Cardew’s playing career saw him turn out for Bodmin, Millbrook and Torpoint in the old Jewson South Western League before a leg break forced a three year sabbatical. He then returned to play East Cornwall League football with Torpoint before going into management at Athletic where he won two league titles and three cups.

Cardew said: "I am really looking forward to this new challenge in my life. I have seen how much Callington has advanced over recent years, both on and off the field and am excited at the prospects for the future.”

His appointment has been welcomed by current manager Steve Metters, who said: "When I stepped into the role for the team at the beginning of the season it was always only going to be for one year to assist the club in the evolution following the retirement of previous manager Lee Beer. I am really pleased to see Dean joining the club and I wish him every success.”

Cardew will spend the remainder of this season looking at current and possible future players before formally stepping into the role at the end of the season.

The club will also unveil their new stadium upgrade at 6.30pm ahead of their fixture with Plymouth Parkway FC tomorrow night.

The project has enabled the East Cornish club, who were formed in 1989 to install brand new floodlights, a 50-seater wheelchair-accessible stand, hard standing areas and dugouts at Ginsters Marshfield Parc.

The project was made possible thanks to a £85,394 grant from the Premier League, through the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), the largest funders of non-league football in the country.

Funded with £5.2-million each year from the Premier League, the FSIF is the country’s largest provider of grants towards projects that help improve the comfort and safety of lower league football grounds in both the professional and amateur game. These improvements range from new football stands and turnstiles to floodlighting and improved provision for disabled supporters.