PORTLAND United have appointed former Weymouth Reserves manager Jake Richmond as assistant-manager to boss Simon Browne.

Having spent four years in charge of the Terras’ second string from 2011 to 2015, Richmond is expected to link up with the Blues for their Sydenhams Wessex Premier League game at Team Solent on Saturday.

Browne’s new number two becomes the seventh assistant-manager at Grove Corner this season after the permanent appointments of Mark Carter, Carl Mutch and Rich Robson, plus the temporary stints undertaken by Ian Hutchinson, Paul Robinson and Micky Greeno.

Speaking to Echosport about the move, Browne said talks between the pair had progressed positively.

He said: “I had conversations with a few people and I spoke to Carl. He instigated it, really. I had a chat with Jake and we had a meeting to see whether it would fit in with what he was doing.

“It’s all gone reasonably well. Jake took training last Thursday and turned up at the Hamworthy game last Tuesday. He couldn’t do Saturday because of a prior engagement.

“He’s committed between now and the end of the season. He runs a youth side as well so he’s quite busy.”

Browne is also looking for the duo, who were once members of the same youth football club at Southill, to “bounce” ideas between one another.

He said: “I’ve known him quite a long time, we played youth football together, so it was really just a case of sitting down and seeing what he was going to bring to the table.

“I’ve noticed it in games when we haven’t had an assistant I’ve been running around and not had someone to bounce ideas off.

“Hopefully it’s lucky number seven and that will be it for the rest of the season.”

Browne is hoping that Richmond’s experience at Weymouth reserves will lead to fresh input from his new assistant.

He said: “He knows a few of the players like Aston Butcher and Sean Zima. I said to Jake not to go with everything I do, but to have his own input.

“Having spoken to him I don’t think there’s going to be any problem with that.”

With Richmond in place, Browne is looking forward to working on different “elements” of his team, while also freeing his time up to concentrate on other aspects of his managerial work.

“We have that consistency in terms of who’s going to be in the dugout for the rest of the season. It’s good to get someone in who (the players) know is going to be there.

“It gives me the opportunity to do some work on elements of the side while Jake is doing some other stuff.

“There may be times when I want to watch a player or two and can rely on Jake to take training.”