Former national coach Kyle Lightbourne has accepted the challenge of returning glory to Premier Division side Dandy Town.

“I was approached by Dandy Town and asked if I was interested, so we set up a meeting and went from there,” said the 55-year-old, who has agreed to terms on an initial one-year deal.

“It’s a good decision to come to Dandy Town and see if we can revitalise their senior men’s programme. That’s my remit and we want to look and play an attractive brand of football.

“Our short-term goal obviously is to get back into competing at the right end of the table and the long-term goal is to be in the title race, be in the cup competitions and be a leading club.”

Devarr Boyles, president of parent club Western Stars Sports Club, is just as delighted to have secured the services of his former Bermuda team-mate to spearhead the senior football programme.

“Kyle, with his insight and passion to be successful, will help to drive standards in and around our senior men’s team,” Boyles said. “We view Kyle signing on as coach as a key asset to our enhanced technical structure.

“Kyle has already demonstrated his desire to be successful in meeting with the club and players.

“It is our belief that our new head coach, with the right support structure, can have a positive impact throughout our club, particularly with Dandy Town youth academy.

“Kyle has tremendous experience in both the local game as well as in the international arena and our youth academy coach fraternity will benefit both directly and indirectly from his affiliation with the club.”

Town were forced to search for a new head coach after Scott Morton declined to extend his short-term deal after agreeing in February to serve as interim head coach for the rest of the 2023-24 season.

However, Morton, who fulfilled his main objective by helping Town retain their Premier Division status after they languished near the relegation zone when he took over, has retained close ties with the club, and will stay on the technical staff alongside former Town head coach Aaron Denkins, who played an integral role in securing Lightbourne’s services.

Lightbourne, who also served as coach of PHC, Robin Hood and former USL Premier Development League side Bermuda Hogges, is delighted to again be working alongside Boyles as well as Morton and Denkins, who both served as his assistant coaches at national level.

“Devarr, Scott and Aaron are the guys behind the scenes at Dandy Town, and it will be a great opportunity to work again with them,” Lightbourne said.

“I enjoyed working with Scott and Aaron on national team duty. We know how one another works, so hopefully we can keep working together.

“It’s a great challenge and we will assess the players to see what we have at our disposal and go from there trying to build a unit on and off the field.

“That’s the first goal; just put a good solid unit in place and set the standard that we are looking to get to and go from there.”

Lightbourne comes with a proven track record having won multiple league and cup honours during successful coaching stints with PHC and Robin Hood, and also leading Bermuda to an historic debut at the Concacaf Under-20 Championships in Costa Rica in 2017.