Neil Young believes Marcus Bignot has all the right credentials to pull Chester back from the brink next season.

Bignot has been left to fire-fight in recent months after decisions taken long before his arrival at Chester came back to haunt the club, with a host of first-team players and backroom staff offloaded to reduce the wage bill and stave off a potential second insolvency in eight years.

With his current deal set to expire at the end of the season, Chester’s board must now make the key decision as to whether he is retained for life in National League North, but former boss Young, who has returned to Chester in an advisory role at Bignot’s request, has strongly stated the ex-Grimsby Town manager deserves ‘time and opportunity’ to build his own team at the Deva.

“Everybody has an opinion in football,” Young said. “Who am I to say who the manager should be, but I’ve done job here and come through real difficult times.

“For me, to judge a football manager he has to be given the opportunities. If I was doing what he (Bignot) was doing, would I still be in the seat? Possibly not.

“Because of the job I was in, I understood the football club. It’s cut-throat now and most managers want to just come in and manage the team because it’s so difficult now. You lose six games of football, you’re suddenly out of your depth, the world’s worst manager and you should be moved on.

“People always think there is someone better out there but realistically you’ve got to give that person the best opportunity to be successful on the pitch. You then take a view of whether they are doing a good or bad job.

“I ask the question though, and this extends to the top echelons of the Premier League: Is there somebody better out there?

“Marcus has won the Conference North, he’s managed in this league with Solihull, he’s managed in the Football League. From what I’ve seen, he’s keen as mustard he wants to do well at this club, wants it to do well, so I don’t see another person out there in the game who is better qualified to manage this club.

“Judge Marcus when he’s had an opportunity to put his team out there, his stamp on the team and you go from there.”

Young believes Chester’s players deserve a ‘pat on the back’ for their recent performances amid the uncertainty off the pitch and feels it is impossible to build a ‘team ethos’ when players are departing on a weekly basis to lessen the wage bill.

“One of the positives when I was at the football club, what I got the biggest kick out of, was the relationship we had with people behind the scenes,” he added.

“As a manager you are paid to try and win things, but everyone from the press, the community, most of the people here are the same faces and they’ve got a great appreciation for the club.

“We’ve got a club to be proud of and we’ve got to continue with that.

“People criticised me for the two jobs I did at Altrincham and Stockport, but people have to understand the situation before they make a judgement. Yes, I made mistakes but a bit like here, understand the reality before you make decision on people.

“It’s what it does psychologically to your team. Who’s going next? Am I next out of the door?

“They are trying to build a team ethic but losing their mates once a week. As a manager, you beat yourself up and lose your mind over it.

“What has been achieved here in recent weeks, considering what’s been going on, I think the players deserve a fairly big pat on the back.

“They beat Eastleigh, should’ve won at Dagenham, I thought they should have taken something off Dover and were competitive against Wrexham. For what’s going on, a lot of players going, they’ve done themselves proud. Like everyone, they needed a result from somewhere and that’s the only way you will give them a lift.”