Directors Martin Elliott and Kevin Powell this week told the Sussex Express that the club could no longer afford to keep the title-winning boss or his successful squad – because if they had there would have been "zero" chance of the Dripping Pan outfit surviving in the Blue Square Premier next year.

Elliott and Powell claimed the only chance the club had of staying up next season was to appoint Kevin Keehan, figurehead of a 'sponsorship consortium' led by Aston Villa and England ace Gareth Barry.

Keehan, who is leaving his job as commercial manager at Brighton & Hove Albion, would bring "a great deal of experience" to the club, they said.
And they claimed King was not 'sacked' as there was no written contract, and that his removal from the club was more an unavoidable "parting of the ways".

Sussex Express sports editor Brian Pollard met the two directors to discuss the controversial decision that has stunned Rooks fans. They said the over-riding issue was the need to balance the budget – and that had no longer become possible with King in the hot seat.
Here is a transcript of the meeting – and why the board felt King had to leave the club:

Kevin Powell: If we go right back to the beginning (1999) a group of local business people headed by Martin bought in to save the club."
Martin Elliott: "We took over a club that effectively was just about to go out of business.

"We've progressed through the leagues at an alarming rate.
"The progress has been phenomenal and that in itself of course has caused a great deal of pressure and added responsibility. And yet again we find ourself looking at a huge jump forward.

"We effectively now have a professional football club in lots of different ways. It's got to be run and managed accordingly.

KP: One thing I think is important is that at no time has Steve King been asked to get us promotion – at no time has he been told that his job was related to success.

"At all times, right from the beginning, it was explained that the goals of the Lewes Football Club board were that of a community club, Active Lewes and sporting hub. That's where our interests and our passion lay. The springboard for Active Lewes was having a successful football club, at a level – not at the highest level – but at a level that would promote Lewes Football Club and the town.

"That was always very important. Never was Steve King asked to get us into the conference or get promotion.

"We had that one season where we jumped up two leagues and Steve brought in some fantastic players and achieved something that was beyond all our wildest dreams. That caused their own problems because were playing at a level higher then we should be. We had the FA come down to look at our ground and they said, 'what are you doing here?'"

ME: "We were almost laughed at at that stage. (If was felt) we had no chance of turning it into anything resembling a football stadium. We were faced with the enormity of the situation.

"There's been no voluntary contribution from anyone other than the supporters and members clubs who have raised a small amount of money, which obviously we are grateful for.

"We receive a very small amount of money from Lewes District Council, but beyond that it's all been privately funded. It's been a great strain on the individuals and the various companies."

KP: "We've always tried to run it as a business. The one thing that needs clarification – because people seem to misunderstand this – is that because of cup runs and gates that somehow we are generating massive profits and we the directors are living off it. Over the last few years, if you look back at our accounts – and they are open to the public at Companies House – we have made losses.

"Those losses are covered by money that has been put in to cover the budget – to cover the running of the club.

"The club would not be where it is without the benefactors – the board members – putting money in."

ME: "And it's a significant amount of money as well. I don't want to say what it is but there is a significant week-on-week budget deficit."
KP: "So Steve's been supported. He's created the problem if you like – and I don't mean that in a negative way – because he's been so successful.

"It disappoints the fans because they want to see the continued rise of Lewes Football Club. But the reality is that Lewes Football Club, without significant monies, could not continue at this level – with the same playing budget and the same manager.

"It's just not possible. If we did...I mean, we could easily have turned around and said yes, you can have that (same budget), Steve, for another year. But we know we've got an A grading to achieve, which is another quarter of a million to find; we've got to somehow manage the budget, because we know there's a shortfall in that, and it's likely to be more. And when you go up a league it's going to cost you a bit more for the squad. We're business people."

ME: What we've always done is, every February/March time, we've looked at the next season and we've said, we think we can do this in terms of improvements within the Dripping Pan, and we think we can run with a budget of this on a weekly basis, or what have you.

"That players' budget we stick to the whole way through the season, no matter what.

"We've made a commitment from February or March for the whole of the next season. So Steve has known all the way through that season, that's the money he's got to spend.

"We haven't been one of these clubs that suddenly says, 'Right, we're out of the FA Cup, the budgets halved', because we recognise that a stable situation is a good situation and we've done that every year – 'that's what we can afford to do, that's what we can afford to pay' – and we've honoured our commitment to the end of each year.

"We've wiped the slate clean, mopped up the deficits, and moved on for the next season.

"So, a year ago we were saying to Steve, 'Right, we're going to go one more year with this because, primarily, we were nearly there on the B grading, we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, having come so far. If we could just find a bit more money and get that south stand finished and build a terrace on the east side.

"We've worked really hard over the six or seven years, putting in an awful lot of time, effort and money, and we wanted that letter saying: you've got your B grading.

"At the same time Steve had done a tremendous job and we'd got a good group of players and we wanted to stick with that budget.

"That was a bit of an emotional (decision). In hindsight we could have said a year ago, look, this really is almost like a step too far.

"This year in particular has been extremely tough to get through, get that B grade and to honour our commitment to the players and to Steve King, which we have duly done. But it has been extremely tough."
KP: "It's been the toughest year financially for Lewes Football Club.

And as Martin said, if we'd had our business heads on at the end of last year, we would have called it a day with Steve King then."

ME: "This time last year we'd already identified (our position) and talking to Steve. We said, 'Look we're going to have to draw a line in the sand and review our position, because we recognise that we just cannot go on'."

KP: "Steve, at the end of the year, was told that we were looking for other investors or contributors.

"We had eight people on the board and we knew one of them would be going (Becky Wycherley).So we had a very, very small board and therefore we decided we needed to bring someone else in. (King) was given the opportunity to go and find other people to get involved to help as well.

"A proposition was made but the board did not feel that it was in the best interests of the club."

Powell confirmed that the budget would be cut for next season but added, "If we'd gone down the route where we had no one else involved, the budget would have been lower.

"The fact that we've actually found some people who are looking to inject sponsorship and improve the sponsorship budget means we can revise our budget for the better.

"So it is an improvement on what we would have had if we hadn't had any (cash) injection. (But) it is not up to the level that Steve King needs to run his team."

ME: "This season in particular has been extremely alarming in terms of resources. We need people to help, in terms of time, effort and money. And we have to set a budget that can be managed."

The board members refused to comment on speculation surrounding the amount of sponsorship cash coming in (rumoured to be anywhere from £250,000 to £400,000).

"But Elliott said, "At the end of the day, our costs will be going down and our income will be going up."

KP: We're happy as a board that we can manage that budget (with the new sponsorship money). I also did the budget without the new money coming in and...we couldn't manage it."

ME: "The discussions that we had with the other interested parties doesn't proclude anyone else from getting involved.

"We're still standing here saying we need help. We need further help and assistance and if there's anybody out there who thinks they can help in any capacity, we are open to approaches for further support."

Elliott, who is Lewes FC chief executive and his fellow director Powell both gave illustrations of the day-to-day financial difficulties of running a club the size of Lewes FC.

Elliott said: "As an example, the last game of the season, with 1,600 people there and we had the bar takings – when we banked it on Monday morning it didn't cover the wages for a week. People's perception of costs against revenue is completely gobbldygook."

Powell added, "If we had a home game every week and ran at 800-900 people on our average gate, we would not cover the wage bill.

"That gives you some indication as to were with the budget that we were running."

ME: "There is still this significant shortfall that we chose to run with, year-on-year, and we met our commitment. And the only way we met our commitment was to put our hands in our pockets. And we're not talking about a few pounds here, we're talking about significant sums of money.

"The A grading has to be achieved by end of March (if a club in the conference national fails to achieve an A grading it is autimatically relegated – regardless of final league position]. The planning permissions that are necessary have already been sought.

"If we had the same set-up as we had through the course of this year, we'd have pretty much a zero chance of achieving the income to make the capital improvements needed to make that grading."

KP: Supporters don't want a situation where we go up and we're just making the numbers up. Nor do we.

"That's not the aim at all.

"If we can at all get an A grading and stay in conference football, we'll have fantastic games against some brilliant teams."

To hear some of the inteview click here.