Mark Kennedy breaks his silence after leaving Birmingham City for Lincoln job

Mark Kennedy has spoken out for the first time since becoming the new head coach of League One side Lincoln City.

The Imps made the announcement on Thursday, just hours after Blues confirmed his departure after one season as Lee Bowyer 's assistant head coach at St Andrew's. Kennedy replaces Michael Appleton as manager of the Sincil Bank outfit, taking on his first crack at management since an ill-fated spell at Macclesfield Town.

With his announcement confirmed before the summer break, Kennedy now has time to assess his squad before pre-season begins in June as Lincoln aim to earn promotion to the Championship. The 45-year-old has been discussing the transition from coach to head coach, and provided an explanation for leaving Blues, in an interview with Lincoln club media.

"I feel really honoured and privilege to be given the opportunity by the club," he said. "(It's) something I'm very grateful for and something I'm very keen to pay back and award the guys that have given me the opportunity to come here.

"If you asked any manager who had an interesting in coaching a League One club with the right structure, framework, foundations, philosophies, methodology of how they would like to see the game played and the club being run properly. I think you'd find it very difficult not to pick a club like Lincoln.

"I knew that before I had an opportunity to talk to the club so when the phone call came, it was certainly a no brainer to come and speak, but something I was really excited about."

Kennedy added: "I made a very conscious decision that I wanted to start again and learn my trade as a coach. I realised (that) I was at the wrong end of the spectrum, coaching, as a first-team coach having not coached before.

"So I went