St Albans City Youth are looking to continue their growth by the appointment of a new comercial manager.

Steve Mann will have responsibility for providing an impetus to the football club's fundraising and sponsorship initiatives.

He joins City Youth after 28 years in financial services but just as importantly, the father of two has a passion for grassroots football.

He currently coaches two U18 teams at the club, is an active youth referee as well as the club welfare officer at St Albans City.

Starting in January, he will work alongside Charlie Boswell, who joined in September on a full-time basis to grow large-scale community programmes, and will liaise closely with the coaches and managers to develop both them and the club's young stars.

He said: "I am both excited and honoured to have this new opportunity and I am keen to repay the faith the trustees have shown in me.

"I am looking to reach out to the City Youth family to support the many planned initiatives we have in the pipeline.

"However, equally as importantly we are looking to increase engagement with existing and prospective sponsors in the wider community.

"We are looking to develop real and lasting partnerships where our sponsors feel informed, included and appreciated and also see benefit for the financial commitment they have made when partnering with a club and charity of our scale and reputation and the reach it has in our fantastic city."

Sam Mardle, chair of the trustees, said: "Since becoming chair, we as a board have made it a priority to prepare the football club and charity not only for today, but for tomorrow.

"Running an organisation that has weekly engagement with around 1,300 participants requires a huge amount of dedication and I believe taking such a huge step forward will see the club and charity reap the rewards in the near future."