Leeds United have made a surprise appointment by turning to David Hockaday as their head coach. The 56-year-old’s managerial experience is limited to a disappointing spell with non-league Forest Green Rovers.

Hockaday was confirmed in the Leeds role on Thursday by Massimo Cellino, the majority owner, on a two-year contract. He has coached at Watford, Leicester and Southampton and will be joined by his assistant Junior Lewis.

Cellino, the Italian businessman whose company Eleonora Sport bought 75% of Leeds from Gulf Finance House Capital in April, has often voiced a desire to operate a continental system where the squad is run by a head coach who has no involvement in non-playing activity.

Before the departure of Brian McDermott, Leeds appointed Benito Carbone as football consultant, with Cellino targeting promotion from the Championship within two years. Hockaday denied that he was an obscure appointment and vowed to win over sceptical supporters.

He said: “I wasn’t surprised to get the call because I’ve talked to lots of people and when I met the president we talked and it was very obvious he knew what he was talking about. I played for 20 years in over 650 senior games, I’ve coached at every level in every league, from the Premier League to the Conference.

“I’ve come here to work hard, I’ve come here to coach and improve. That’s what I do and that’s what I will do. I’ve been given a great opportunity. I’ve got a great work ethic and I’m going to work hard.”

Cellino, a former Cagliari owner, revealed that he met Hockaday at a hotel in London for five hours during his search for a coach, and that he considered six or seven candidates. It is understood that his preferred option was the Reading coach Eamonn Dolan but that he was put off by the compensation the Berkshire club were demanding.

Cellino said: “We have to start a new era. I was looking for someone that can teach the players how to play better, how to work with the players. We haven’t bought any players before choosing the coach. It’s a team job.”

Hockaday’s only previous managerial job came at Forest Green between September 2009 and October last year. The Conference club were relegated in his first season but avoided the drop because of financial irregularities concerning Salisbury, before narrowly missing out on relegation the following year. Forest Green then finished 10th in successive seasons and Hockaday left after a poor start to the 2013-14 campaign.

He has yet to meet the first-team squad but Cellino insisted that the striker Ross McCormack, who scored 28 league goals last season, would not be sold. He also revealed that the club could move from their Thorp Arch training ground at the end of the coming campaign.

Hockaday’s appointment has been met with bemusement by a large section of Leeds supporters but he assured them of his autonomy over first-team affairs.

“I know that the Leeds fans want hard work, passion and hunger,” he said. “That’s what they will get. I’ll pick the team; all the footballing matters are with me. We’ve identified key areas where we have to improve and between us we will bring players in.

“For all the rhetoric, for everything I could say, what systems I am going to say and what I can do, I come here with a great work ethic and am going to work hard, and the evidence of that will be seen on the pitch.”