STROLLING over the canal bridge towards St George's Lane at 2.20pm last Saturday, I heard three or four grown men break into voice from the terraces.

Delighted at the prospect of a successful era for their club, they boomed with gusto the name of their ambitious young manager hell-bent on marching them back to the big time.

The chorus came from a pocket of boisterous Southport supporters and the recipient was none other than Liam Watson.

Former Runcorn boss Watson has certainly worked wonders at Haig Avenue since taking charge in October 2003. After ditching his entire highly-paid squad following relegation from the Nationwide Conference in 2002/03, Watson started from scratch attracting young players hungry to make a professional living out of the game.

The Sandgrounders have now come full circle, standing on the threshold of a return to the Conference as they hold a four-point lead at the summit of Nationwide North with games in hand.

Watson's proficiency should offer Worcester City supporters cause for optimism that Andy Preece can spark similar achievements at the Lane.

Player-manager Preece is hugely determined to prosper at City. Discarded by Bury following four years as boss at Gigg Lane, the 37-year-old craves a future return to Football League management and City may prove the ideal stepping-stone.

If he succeeds at City over the next few seasons, Preece is likely to have chairmen up and down the country hunting down his mobile number. Obviously if he fails, it's unlikely.

However, recent evidence is mounting that young thirty-something managers are on the march, especially at clubs experiencing hard times.

Iain Dowie took Crystal Palace into the Premiership on a shoestring, Steve Cotterill has earned a glowing reputation at hard-up Burnley, while closer to home, Kidderminster Harriers' Coca-Cola League Two status is still flickering under the tutorship of Stuart Watkiss. And one common theme of those three managers, plus Preece, is their promotion of young players into the first-team.

On the day of Preece's appointment, City chairman Dave Boddy said: "When I first spoke to Andy last week, he told me he wanted to be the next Steve Cotterill.

Obviously, Steve Cotterill went in as a young manager at Cheltenham and took the Whaddon Road club from the Dr Martens Premier Division to the Second Division.

"That's what we are getting out of Andy. I'm getting a bright young manager with experience at managing under difficult circumstances at Bury. They were in administration for two seasons out of the four he was manager.

"At Bury, one of his strengths was bringing young players through. When he left Bury there were eight players in the first team that had come through their youth academy and Andy was responsible for that."

It will take months for Preece to engineer 'his' side at City and a credible evaluation of his progress can only realistically be made in the opening stages of next season -- hopefully in Nationwide North.

And if Worcester's very own local boy converts City into a team to fear, it might not be long before chants of 'There's only one Andy Preece' are ringing around St George's Lane!