The new manager was appointed as Billy McEwan's successor at Field Mill on December 29^th, bringing to an end much speculation as to the name of the new boss.

The former centre half, was once signed by Trevor Francis at Birmingham City for £1.25m where he clocked up almost a century of appearances at St Andrews.

His longest spell as a player was with Watford where he spent 10 years, making 291 first team appearances for the Hornets and playing under former England manager Graham Taylor.

Having spent a decade at Vicarage Road, Holdsworth moved to Bramall Lane in 1996 for £450,000. He was made Sheffield United's captain and made over 100 appearances for the Blades.

Holdsworth also made one appearance for the England Under-21's. He recorded well over 550 first team games during a long and distinguished career.

He is the brother of Dean, who was most notably a member of Joe Kinnear's 'Crazy Gang'at Wimbledon and like David, also manages in non-league football with Welsh outfit Newport County.

The new Stags manager cut his teeth at Gretna in Scotland, under the stewardship of Brooks Mileson where he won the league title as Reserve team manager. Unfortunately for Holdsworth, he had to leave because of financial problems, which later saw Gretna go out of business.

Holdsworth then found himself at Stadium:MK in a coaching role, but declined the offer to assist then manager Paul Ince. In the summer of 2008, he was appointed the new manager of Unibond Premier League side Ilkeston Town, under the new chairmanship of Chek Whyte.

The former Birmingham defender was also offered the chance to be the new manager of Grimsby Town earlier in the season, following the departure of Alan Buckley, but Holdsworth chose not to go to Blundell Park.

The 40-year old enjoyed his first game in charge, with a 1-0 victory at home over Crawley Town.