Former Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City favourite re-enters management with non-league club

Graeme Lee played between 2003 and 2006 for Wednesday and wore the skipper’s armband in the absence of club captain Dean Smith for large portions of the 2003/04 season.

A popular figure with Wednesday supporters, Lee won a handful of fan-voted awards while at S6 but was one of the many players to fall foul of Paul Sturrock’s player cull following promotion to the Championship, signing for Doncaster Rovers to major impact before going on to play for the likes of Bradford City and Notts County.

Having managed both in the youth ranks at Middlesbrough and then with Hartlepool United - where he was harshly sacked in the eyes of many - he is understood to have applied for a number of jobs to no avail in recent months.

Marske finished 16th in the step-seven Northern Premier League table last season - below the likes of Matlock Town and the Gainsborough Trinity - and he spoke of his desire to get the North East club looking upwards in the table.

The club is local to Lee’s family home and represented an opportunity to get back to work.

“You know the local clubs, and you know people. So I always had a little eye and what they were doing and how they were doing.

“And I sat down and got a call off Craig [Gibbin] about going to meet the chairman and like I said, once I had a chat with him and it was nice to have a nice communication about what they wanted to do with the club and now they want to move forward and make sure we bring the community involved.

“It just sounded like a project I wanted to be a part of.”

Marske CEO Craig Gibbin said: “From our first meeting with Graeme, we made him our number one target, knowing his background and his experience it goes without saying he has all the credentials, but now knowing the person he is, we are sure he’s the right fit for the club.

“How he’s conducted himself is a credit to him and his family and personally I can’t wait to get working with him and am excited to see where this journey will take us.”