91Èȱ¬

Fulham have appointed Stuart Gray as senior coach and he will take charge of Saturday's derby against Brentford.

The west London club, currently 16th in the Championship, say they are still searching for a permanent head coach.

Gray will be assisted by Steve Wigley, while Peter Grant, who had been in caretaker charge, will revert back to his job as Under-21s boss.

Fulham have been looking for a successor to Kit Symons since the Welshman was sacked on 8 November.

Steve Clarke held talks about taking over but stayed at Reading, who sacked the Scot last week.

Fulham chief football officer Mike Rigg told the club website: "The search for a permanent head coach goes on, but it is important to ensure we focus fully on getting results back on track while this process continues."

Gray, 55, was sacked by Sheffield Wednesday in June after an 18-month spell as head coach.

The former Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa left-back has also managed Southampton and Northampton, and had spells in caretaker charge at Villa, Wolves, Burnley and Portsmouth.

"Stuart has a proven track record in both coaching and management," Rigg added.

"He also had a full season in charge at Sheffield Wednesday and secured their highest finish for six years, along with a record number of clean sheets.

"We all know that we have suffered from defensive frailties all season and Stuart will be focusing on that straight away.

"He has first-hand knowledge of the Championship and knows how to get the very best out of a group of players."