New Colchester United manager Tony Humes deserves his chance to prove himself as a Football League manager, according to U’s supremo Robbie Cowling.

Humes has been appointed as Joe Dunne’s successor as first-team boss, following a successful five years as the club’s academy manager.

Cowling has been impressed by the way in which the former Ipswich Town academy boss has helped nurture the club’s promising young players, with the club looking for a clear pathway between youth and senior level.

And after making his fifth permanent managerial appointment, Cowling now is the right time for Humes to continue his good work in charge of Colchester’s first team.

He said: “I like to look internally – our last two managers were both assistants before getting the job as manager and now we’ve appointed Tony.

“Tony has been with Colchester for five years now and he’s been here for a long time now.

“He’s done an excellent job for the club, driving our academy forward.

“We have one of the best academies going and I want to give Tony that chance at the next level of the game.

“I’ve had a lot of success in business in making appointments internally.

“It’s naturally for me the first place you look and we have a lot of pedigree around the club.

“Everybody has seen the club’s intentions and the way we appoint internally and that gives a lot of other people a lift.”

For six pages of coverage on the appointment of Tony Humes as U's manager and Joe Dunne's departure from the club, see today's Daily Gazette.