The former Aston Villa and England striker has enjoyed a long a varied career in football management, steering Aston Villa into Europe and also bringing Darlington back out of the Football Conference.

With over 800 games to his credit, he is one of the most experienced active managers in the game.

"I'm delighted to be joining Wrexham," he said.

"I think the most important thing is to sort out the team's position in the league. Then and only then can you look to the future.

"I know Brian Carey well and trust him because I signed him at Leicester.

"At the moment we need to get the club away from the bottom of the table, whether that takes a month or three months and once we do that we can look at other targets.

"The current position is not one where you can say that someone new can come in and we'll start flying up the league.

"It might take a little time and maybe it will be a long hard season, but we've got to have a focus on trying to get away from the bottom of the table.

"If that isn't the case straight away then we'll have to focus on retaining our league status. Those will have to be my initial aims.

"Some people are full of false promises early doors, but there has to be a realisation that the team is in a bad position.

"This is something I've inherited before at other clubs and it's something I think I've got experience in.

"The important thing is not to kid anybody and to stay focused but to pick up points steadily and move away from danger."