IRISH LEAGUE PREVIEW: Gary Boyle says transition from coach to manager is 'significantly different' as he begins the post-Darren Mullen era at Newry City

The 35-year-old has been charged with leading City from the front after spending six years as Darren Mullen's assistant at The Showgrounds.

Newry's fortunes will now come down to Boyle's management and he recently acknowledged that the change has been effectively seamless so far.

"The transition has been fine as I know the club and the majority of the players," he said. "Obviously there's been a slight changeover in terms of signings but we would have had a list of targets anyway that evolved in my time.

"It hasn't been too different from the list of targets we would have gone for or the players we wanted to keep.

"The transition from a coach to manager is significantly different but it's something that I'm looking forward to.

"I saw as much of Darren (in the past) as I did my family.

"Darren is always at the other end of the phone and I've been with him a couple of times in person due to occasions at the club and stuff like that.

"Darren's not going to be a stranger but in terms of the day-to-day preparations, he's not going to be involved.

"The whole thing won't change as I always live by 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' but we have tried to add a few different elements which will prove correct or incorrect as we progress.

"We've made tweaks in certain areas that we feel will hopefully improve us."

Newry finished 10th in last season's Premiership which guaranteed safety for the upcoming campaign.

Boyle labelled staying away from relegation as "a success" for the border club but he wants to do better in cup competitions.

The Newry boss has signed striker Adam Salley - amongst several others - and he is hoping that the former Portadown ace can help fill the void left by James Teelan’s switch to Crusaders.

"The recruitment was key and the players we've brought in are good ones," he continued. "Losing James Teelan wasn't ideal and we didn't score enough goals last year and I think James got a third of them, so it was an area we needed to address quite quickly.

"We've brought in good players all over the pitch.”