Stags' chief executive Stephen Booth made the announcement on Tuesday morning.

Holland's first three games in charge produced three much improved performances, though yielded only one win.

And his future was then in doubt yesterday after a poor display in a 2-0 defeat at Bury that has left them seven points adrift.

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But Booth has decided to go with Holland as a replacement for Billy Dearden for the rest of the relegation battle and not to bring in someone new at this crucial stage.

He told Chad: "We have had three good performances under Paul, even though yesterday (Easter Monday at Bury) was disappointing.

"Now is not the time for upheaval. Paul Holland has got the players behind him.

"They have given him a vote of confidence, I have given them a vote of confidence . . . let's hope this vote of confidence is worthwhile."

A delegation of senior players, led by captain Jake Buxton, had helped to persuade the chief executive to extend Holland's caretaker role over the Easter weekend.

• Holland in charge of Stags over Easter

Booth - who it is thought had been considering brining in former York City manager and Derby County coach Billy McEwan - added: "I thought about this hard overnight . . . in fact, I have been thinking about this almost non-stop for two weeks.

"I just think that now is the time for continuity and placing faith in Paul.

"We have eight games left to save ourselves and they are all winnable games.

"We still have every chance of escaping relegation. People should be thinking of that and not relegation.

"It is time for everyone to pull together and put their faith in Paul (Holland) and the players."

The chief executive added that he did not rule out further players coming to Field Mill before the loan signing deadline on Thursday.

Holland told Chad on Tuesday: "I believe we need a minimum of 12 points from our last eight games so this is where our season starts.

"From the next three games we need to get a minimum of seven points. We are under no illusions it will be easy, but I have told the players it is now time to stand up and be counted. We have to start getting points on the board.

"Their performance at Bury was not good enough and I told them in no uncertain terms. But if we had put in three decent performances followed by a bad one throughout every four games this season then we wouldn't be in our situation.

"The Bury game was very depressing – we were nowhere near good enough. But I am positive we can bounce back.

"I am confident I can be the person to keep the club up. I would not have put myself up to be shot at if I thought we had gone a bridge too far already.

"I am not stupid enough to say we are going to win all eight games we have left. But if you look at each game on its game you can make a case for us winning it if we are right and we prepare right.

"I didn't know what to expect with the job after Bury. I had a phone call on Monday evening which wasn't really conclusive one way or the other and then I got a call this morning to tell me I had the job until the end of the season, which was a relief.

"I will be going out to games and I have been told I can bring more players in. But realistically the squad we have is likely to be the one that has to do the job and we are up for it."

Holland (34) - previously Dearden's assistant and also a caretaker boss once before - has a long association with the Stags going back to his time as a junior at the club.

Rising through the youth team ranks, he made his debut aged just 17. In his first full season the Stags won promotion.

He had four years at Field Mill from 1991-95, making a total of 183 appearances and scoring 29 goals in all competitions.

Then came a £250,000 move to Sheffield United and spells at Chesterfield and Bristol City, before injury cut short his playing career in 2002.

'Dutch' then returned to Field Mill as youth team coach when Stuart Watkiss took over the managerial reins from Billy Dearden on the way to promotion from Division III that season.