GRAHAM DRURY has ended his second spell in charge of Stamford AFC to take over as boss of Boston United.
Boston sacked manager Jason Lee earlier this month and the former Nottingham Forest frontman told The NLP he felt his assistant, Graham Hyde, should be named as his successor.
However, the Blue Square Bet North club have instead opted to bring in 41-year-old Drury.
Drury managed Harrowby United and Bottesford during the early part of his career before getting the chance to boss Stamford in 2005.
He led them to promotion into the Southern Premier League Premier Division in his first season in charge and then saw them secure an eighth-place finish in 2006/07.
The Daniels were switched to the Northern Premier League ahead of the follwoing season, a decision that affected Drury’s squad-building plans.
He left the club midway through the 2007/08 campaign and took over at Corby Town. Drury helped keep the Steelmen at Step 3 that term and transformed them into league winners in 2008/09.
The Grantham-born boss oversaw finishes of sixth, 13th and 17th prior to the club deciding against renewing his contract this summer.
Drury subsequently returned to Stamford and had been enjoying a very solid start to the season at Kettering Road, with the club sitting second in Northern Premier League First Division South.
However, the lure of Conference football has seen him leave the Daniels for the Pilgrims, much to the delight of Boston chairman David Newton.
Newton told the club’s website: “Graham was selected from a shortlist of six potential managers and was the candidate that closely matched the criteria set by the board.
“He has a proven track record, his contacts are second-to-none and he is meticulous in his preparation for matches.
“He is also a motivator and is young, very ambitious and demonstrated his desire to not only manage Boston United, but that his aspirations matched those of the board.
“We know Graham Drury will give 100 percent to Boston United and we ask all of our fans to unite behind him as he tries to bring the success on the pitch that we all desire.”
Drury will have Paul Holden – his number two at Stamford – as head coach and Dean West, who was also at the Daniels with him, as conditioning coach.
Boston, who are currently 11th in the Conference North after 19 games, travel to tenth-placed Altrincham on Saturday afternoon.
