Dulwich Hamlet appoint Paul Barnes as permanent first-team manager

Dulwich Hamlet have appointed Paul Barnes as their permanent manager.

The club announced that Barnes will take charge at Champion Hill on a full-time basis following an extensive recruitment process.

The National League South side initially named Barnes as their interim head coach on September 15 after long-serving manager Gavin Rose departed.

Rose, who had been with Hamlet since 2009, won two promotions with the club.

During his time as interim boss, Barnes took charge of six games and won three. Dulwich, 20th in the National League South, take on Hungerford Town tomorrow.

Daniel Gill will continue as Barnes’ assistant. Tommy Cooney will be Barnes’ first- coach, and Andy Smith will be the goalkeeping coach.

Speaking to our paper earlier in the week before the announcement was made, Barnes said: “For myself, it has not been an interview but a series of informal chats about where we’re at and what plans I would put in place.

“My interview has kind of been doing the job for the last five weeks. Everybody has got a good feel for me and what I’m all about.

“Whoever it is, they need to be able to put their mark on it. In the last five weeks, the lads have been brilliant but it is not a squad I’ve assembled or that necessarily fits the way I want to do things.

“The good news for the weekend is that we have no injuries and people returning. We’ll probably have a fully fit squad for the first time since I’ve been here.

“We’ll probably have 20 players available as long as nobody picks up a niggle or a re-occurrence of an injury.

“Depending on when the announcement is made there might be time for the new manager to do a little bit of business before the weekend. I’ve got ideas of some of the things I’d like to potentially do. It just depends how soon it is before Saturday, you’d like to get at least one training session with any new players coming in.”