Dermot Drummy has been backed to be a big hit at Crawley Town.

Drummy was appointed as manager on a two-year deal at the Checkatrade.com Stadium yesterday, as exclusively revealed in The Argus on Tuesday. The former Arsenal and Chelsea youth coach fills the hot-seat left vacant following the sacking of Mark Yates on Monday.

Drummy has never managed at first team level before but Reds midfielder Jimmy Smith is confident he is the right man to take the club forward under new owner Ziya Eren.

Smith was trying to make the breakthrough at Chelsea when Drummy arrived at Stamford Bridge from Arsenal in January 2009 to run the club’s academy.

While Smith left the Blues that summer he has kept in contact with Drummy ever since and believes he has the perfect credentials to revive Crawley’s fortunes following two disappointing seasons which has seen them slip from League One into the lower reaches of League Two.

Smith said: “I know Dermot very well and he is a good guy. He had a lot of success at Chelsea and when I heard he was getting the job I was really pleased.

“I think he will be good for the club. He’s been in the game a long time and knows his stuff so I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Drummy – who has appointed former Aldershot coach Matt Gray as his assistant – led Chelsea to their first FA Youth Cup triumph in 49 years in 2010 before landing the Under-21 Premier League title in 2014.

The 55-year-old went on to become head international coach in June 2014 but left the Premier League club last January to follow his ambition of managing at senior level.

Smith rejects concerns over his lack of experience in the Football League and believes he can follow in the footsteps of Brendan Rodgers, Paul Clement and Steve Clarke who all served their apprenticeships in the Chelsea youth set-up.

“I don’t think the fact his background is in youth coaching is a problem at all,” added Smith. “He often joined in with first team training at Chelsea and dealt with lots of the senior players so he knows how to handle top players like John Terry and Frank Lampard.

“Okay so he’s been at a Premier League club for most of his career but I’m sure he’s done his homework and knows League Two. I’ve seen him at five or six of our games this season so it’s not like he is coming in blind.

“He has got a track record of bringing through young talent and for a club like Crawley with limited resources that is vital. We can’t go spending millions of pounds on players so the contacts he has got and his knowledge of the best young players will be really helpful.”

Drummy will take charge of Crawley for the first time at Dagenham and Redbridge tomorrow as Reds bid to end a run of six consecutive defeats. Smith believes Crawley fans will see an instant difference in the team’s style of play.

Smith added: “He wants to play attractive football. That is easier said than done but his philosophy at Chelsea was to get his teams passing rather than getting the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible.”