FORMER Millwall and Gillingham centre-half Alan Walker is the new manager of Tonbridge Angels. Walker, 42, immediately pledged to turn the club around and said new players, some with Football League experience, would be arriving at Longmead this summer.

He said he also wanted to repeat at Tonbridge the feat he produced with Dr Martens League team Fisher Athletic, promoted in his first season in charge. Walker has persuaded new Angels chairman Howard Luft to bring his assistant at Fisher, Chris Hiscock, to Tonbridge as coach.

"Considering last season you might think I was talking about stabilisation but I'm not," said Walker, who lives in Gillingham but hails from Lancashire. Walker, who replaces Tony Burns as manager, played alongside Teddy Sheringham for Millwall in the late 1980s before going on to manage Sittingbourne and Fisher Athletic. From 1988 to 1992 Walker was a Gillingham stalwart, captain for four and a half seasons and twice elected player of the year.

Mr Luft, who has just taken over from Colin Fry, said Walker was the man to improve on Tonbridge's poor performance in the Dr Martens League. And in a statement that will delight frustrated fans, Mr Luft said there would be substantial and quality players coming into the club, although he added that Walker would also be strengthening the system of feeding players from junior teams.