Lincoln appoint former Irish international Kennedy after Bradley rejection

Lincoln City have appointed former Republic of Ireland international Mark Kennedy as head coach after missing out on Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley.

The League One club have handed Kennedy a four-year contract.

Kennedy has managed in the Football League with struggling Macclesfield Town, when the crisis-hit club were relegated but has extensive experience in academy football with Manchester City, Wolves and Ipswich Town.

He rejected the chance to stay with Macclesfield having taken charge of just 12 games when they went down.

Kennedy is highly-rated as a coach for his work in the youth game.

Lincoln said it is the culmination of an "extensive recruitment process for the head coach position working to a clear profile of the person and qualities wanted to take the playing squad forward".

Bradley announced last Friday that he was staying with Shamrock Rovers following an official approach and talks over moving to England.

Imps chairman Clive Nates said: "Over the course of many hours of interviews, we have been hugely impressed by Mark's knowledge, energy, drive and passion. We know that he is a highly respected coach, and in the interview process, he impressed us with his desire to improve and develop players while creating an aggressive, attacking style of play that we believe will be successful in League One and excite our fans at the LNER Stadium.

"We believe that Mark can flourish within our structure and help to create the culture and environment to maximise the potential of our squad."

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