Royston Town have appointed former Birmingham City player Steve Castle as their new first team manager.

Castle is an experienced professional footballer who spent 19 years at league clubs including Leyton Orient, Birmingham City and Peterborough United before stepping into management.

After coaching with Peterborough and West Ham United he was appointed as assistant manager of Cambridge United in 2006 before taking up the position of first team manager at St Albans city in 2008.

He has been manager of Essex Senior team Takeley since 2011.

Castle will be introduced to the players and supporters at Tuesday’s game against Rugby, but will not be officially starting his role until December 23 due to commitments to his present club.

His first game in charge will be the Boxing Day home game against top of the table Dunstable Town.

After naming Castle as the man to replace former boss Paul Attfield, club chairman Steve Jackson, said: “The club are delighted with this appointment, we have been overwhelmed by the quality of applicants for this position, but Steve fits the club’s profile perfectly.

“He is an experienced guy who is well connected and wants to play football the right way.

“He has the skills to develop our squad of players and has all the credentials to be a great manager.”