Wayne Brown: Colchester United interim boss 'desperate to succeed' in role

Wayne Brown also played for Ipswich, Watford, Hull City, Leicester and Preston

Former Colchester United defender Wayne Brown says he is "desperate to succeed" after being named as interim boss.

He is in caretaker charge of the U's for a third time after the club decided to part company with Hayden Mullins.

Brown played almost 150 games for the club and has also managed their under-18 and under-23 sides.

"We've tried to hit the ground running, be nice and positive around the group in our preparation for the weekend's game," he told BBC Essex Sport.

"That's what we're going to try and do, keep it bright, keep it lively, try and get a bounce off the lads. We need that to get results on the board."

• Listen to full BBC Essex Sport interview with Wayne Brown here.

Colchester are 22nd in League Two - just three points above the relegation places - following a run of five successive defeats, and want to avoid dropping into non-league football for the first time since 1992.

They are away to Salford City on Saturday.

Brown had a first spell as caretaker boss in 2015 and another in February last year, winning only one out of nine matches before Mullins was appointed as Steve Ball's successor.

He will be assisted by former U's manager Joe Dunne and Dave Huzzey.

"The club is ingrained in you when you've given the amount of years that I have and you're desperate to succeed, you're desperate for the club to do well and I'll be doing everything in my power to achieve that," said Brown.

"It's about filling the lads with confidence, getting them into a mental headspace where they are going onto the pitch thinking and knowing they are going to get results.

"That will only come when the points start going on the board. Then you can start really building on that winning mentality, clean sheet mentality, ruthless mentality that we've got to have."