Former Manchester City striker Shaun Goater is set to start working with Macclesfield's age-group sides on a part-time basis, Press Association Sport understands.

The 48-year-old Bermudan is the latest big name to join the Sky Bet League Two side's coaching ranks after Sol Campbell was appointed as manager in October and former Manchester United player Andrew Cole joined as their forwards coach two weeks ago.

Macclesfield were seven points adrift at the bottom of the table, having won only 10 points from 19 games, when Campbell arrived but they have since claimed 17 points from 12 games and are now only two points from safety.

Some pundits wondered if the former Arsenal, Tottenham and England defender would struggle at that level, as Macclesfield have one of the smallest budgets in the league and he did not have an obvious network of local contacts.

But those fears appear to have been misplaced, as the 44-year-old Londoner has been able to bring in two of Manchester's favourite footballers of recent years.

Like Cole, Goater lives in the area and has been trying to break into the professional coaching ranks for several years.

After finishing his 17-year playing career in English football at Southend in 2006, Goater went home and founded the Bermuda Hogges, a team that played in United States soccer's fourth tier, as well as becoming a successful businessman.

Leaving the Hogges in 2008, he then spent five years coaching the Bermudan club he started with, the North Village Rams.

But in 2013, he and his family returned to the United Kingdom to pursue his coaching ambitions here. Since then he has had short stints as a forwards coach with Doncaster and St Johnstone and brief spells with non-league clubs New Mills and Ilkeston.

Goater, who has a UEFA 'A' coaching licence, scored 260 goals across 17 seasons in English football, enjoying successful stints with Rotherham and Bristol City.

But he is best known for his spell with City between 1998 and 2003, when his goals helped the club return from the third tier to the Premier League – as a result, he was often serenaded with the chant 'feed the Goat and he will score'.