The former semi-professional centre-half has been given the all-clear from the National League to take sole control of the Liberty Way club.

He told the club`s website: "I am delighted to be able to be part of such a brilliant and proud football club.

"I came here with Chasetown in a play-off final. I was injured that day but watching with more than 3,000 fans showed me the love the town has for its football club.

"I will be working hard to rebuild links between the club and the people of the town, as well as between the fans and the players.

"There is lots of work to do to off the pitch, and it has already started. We have been working hard on getting the club back on to the electricity grid, as well as refurbishing the dressing rooms and offices.

"I know we cannot make everything perfect straight away, but I think it is better to start by making 100 things 1% better than make one thing 100% better.

"I am the sole owner of the club and will be the chairman, but I will be hoping to bring in several other people, as well as repairing links between the club and local businesses.

"We have already started improving things on match days and will be looking to have man of the match presentations in the bar after games, as well as Boro legends talking to fans about their memories of the club.

"I want fans to be very open with me, I will be at the game on Saturday and I am looking forward to meeting as many fans as possible.

"It is great to kick off my chairmanship with a local derby and I really hope there will be a big crowd for the match."

"I'm under no illusions, we have lots of hard work to come. The next few months will be hard for everyone as lots of things will change, but hopefully by Christmas fans will see the benefits of our new direction."

Hawkins, 33, comes from a football-mad family from Nottingham and has played for clubs such as Leicester Road, Gresley Rovers, Long Eaton United and Hucknall Town, as well as having spells as manager of Eastwood Town and Bedworth United.

Hawkins runs a refurbishment company and the move to take over Nuneaton came via friends on social media.

"It came about from friends in the game via social media," he added. "As a company, we do refurbishments. And they were asking me if I could come and help out and have a look at the refurbishment.

"I then understood a little bit more about the club and what was required and realised it wasn't too far out of my remit”.