91Èȱ¬

Notts County player-manager Shaun Derry says he will use the pain of Premier League relegation with QPR to save the Magpies from a similar fate.

The 35-year-old succeeds Chris Kiwomya with the club bottom of League One.

And Derry insists his most recent playing experience is ideal grounding for his first managerial job.

"I was in a relegated dressing room at QPR and I had my own feeling on how things could have been changed," Derry told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Nottingham.

"I have to put myself in the the players' shoes. I understand what predicament they are in.

"I want to implement my own style of personality on this club.

"We have to change the mentality at this football club and once we change that it is unbelievable what can be achieved.

"What I want to do is stand there on the side of the pitch and look at a team that works unbelievably hard and represents what I am as a man."

Derry admits he has taken on a daunting task at Meadow Lane, and that he only did so with former Carlisle manager Greg Abbott agreeing to join him as his assistant.

Abbott made a big impression on the former Sheffield United, Crystal Palace and Portsmouth midfielder while at Leeds United, where he was involved with the academy for nine years.

"I will make mistakes along the way, of course I will, because I'm a young guy in an unbelievable atmosphere," said Derry. "I'm manager of Notts County Football Club at 35 and that is why I've got Greg with me.

"We hit it off from day one at Leeds United and have kept in touch ever since. I just know what he is like and I have absolute trust in him."

Derry, who cannot play for Notts this season because he has already played for QPR and Millwall, has ruled out rushing any changes to the squad, emphasising that his players have a point to prove in the FA Cup first-round tie at Hartlepool on Saturday and in Tuesday's Football League Trophy area quarter-final at Oldham.

"There is no opportunity to change in the short term," Derry added. "I want to give the guys a chance because I believe that there is more ability in that dressing room than they are showing."