Colchester United: U's appoint Kevin Keen as new manager

Kevin Keen has been caretaker manager at West Ham on three occasions

Colchester United have named Kevin Keen as their new manager, with David Wright appointed as his assistant.

Keen, 48, a former caretaker boss at West Ham, replaces Tony Humes who left the League One side in November.

Colchester, bottom of the table, have lost their last seven league games and have won just five times in 2015-16.

"The club, chairman and the philosophy is very much aligned to the way I think about how football clubs should be run," he told BBC Essex.

"They want to bring through young players and I believe I am the right fit for the club at the moment to help those young players develop but also have the first team experience to make sure that the first team are winning matches," he added.

"I am hoping that the way I want to work on the training ground and how I talk to people that there will be a response.

"It might not be immediately but I think over time this squad will come together and I hope over the remaining games that we can make sure Colchester United come out of the relegation zone."

Midfielder Keen spent his playing career with the Hammers, Wolves, Stoke and Macclesfield before taking his first managerial steps as an academy coach with West Ham.

He then joined Liverpool as a first-team coach under Kenny Dalglish in 2011, before becoming Steve Clarke's number two at both West Brom and Reading prior to leaving the Championship side in early December.

The U's new assistant manager Wright played for Colchester between 2013 and 2014 before taking up a coaching role with the club.