EXCLUSIVE: King Speaks

King has remained tight-lipped since he was ousted from the managerial hot-seat more than a month ago. But the former Rooks boss yesterday met with Express Sports Editor Brian Pollard to talk of his heartache at seeing the championship-winning team he created break up '“ and his fears for the club's future.

King recalled the events that would ultimately lead to his shock departure from the club.

"They (the Board) approached me about three months before the end of the season and said they needed some backers to come in, and did I know anybody. I knew someone who would be interested but he wasn't interested in just coming into the club but more about taking the club over. That didn't meet what they wanted and they rejected it. There was no bad blood between me and the Board about that. It was their decision. They just didn't feel it had the kind of structure that they wanted.

"They then said they were talking to other investors. I never dreamt that that would lead to me losing my job. I was the manager who got them where they were. I thought I would be part of any deal that was to be done.

"I had a meeting with them on the Friday before the Weston-super-Mare game. They told me that basically that was it the end of it. It was the end of the line for me.

"When we beat Dorchester Town the Saturday before all the papers and radios were asking (Martin Elliott) 'surely you want to tie up Steve King now?', and he wasn't prepared to talk about it, so the alarm bells began ringing then.

"But I didn't know I was going to lose my job until the meeting on the Friday.

"I still had another year left on a verbal contract. But after winning the championship I thought they would be offering me a long term contract.

"I was devastated. It was a bolt out of the blue. It's very unusual for a manger to win the championship and then be told he's not wanted at the club.

"I felt betrayed. I had stayed loyal to that club when we twice got into the play-offs but couldn't go up. I stayed when I had received offers from other clubs.

"For them to say that they couldn't reach my demands was rubbish. We never sat down and talked about budgets. At every fans' forum they said Steve King sticks to the budget perfectly.

"Everybody seemed to be talking about this budget and saying they couldn't sustain it. I'm so proud that I led Lewes to the title on 5,000 to 6,000. That was probably only top eight in terms of budgets in that division...nothing like what people saying, that it was one of the biggest in the league. And to say they couldn't cover the weeks' wages after a gate of 1,600 is simply not true.

"I believe they wanted me out the door because the offer from Kevin Keehan people meant that they could concentrate on sporting hub and wouldn't have to fund any more money for the football club.

"I think it was a waste of time me trying to introduce someone into the club when they had been talking to Kevin Keehan for six months.

"I just wish they had sat me down and spoken to me '“ and asked would I be prepared to work here with a reduced budget. At least that would have given me the option to stay or go. I though that was the least I deserved.

"All the players showed a stance '“ a loyalty to themselves and also a loyalty to me. What the club did to them was disgusting.

"When a mananger goes, usually four or five of the players go, but for the whole team to go shows how disgusted they were with the whole situation.

"I know they tried to keep eight of the players '“ the four on contract and Leon (Legge), Ziggy (Sigere), Wormall and Barness. And they've all said no.

"All the players have gone elsewhere '“ the deals they got were unbelievable. They couldn't turn them down.

"I feel there are three lots of people who have had their hearts ripped out in all of this: the fans, the players and myself and my staff.

"I feel that that team would have comfortably been mid-table next

season, and with the four or five people I had earmarked, we would have made a push for the play-offs. We would have done a Histon. I feel no one can doubt me on that."

Asked if the championship-winning squad would have put the club into financial jeaopardy next season, he replied, "No chance. We would have worked within the budgets again '“ as we have always done and has been stated by Kevin Powell.

"If the budget was lower, I would have had to just duck and dive a bit more in terms of getting players. I would have used my contacts books. There's more to managing a football club than just spending money.

Talking of the most recent bid to buy the club, he said, "It wasn't a Steve King consortium '“ it was a consortium that wanted to reinstate Steve King. And it was a very good business plan. It was more than adequate to survive in the conference. Lee Cobb was the front man of that consortium.

He was asked to put plan together to take the club forward. But it was never in (the Board's) interests to sell the club. They wanted to have their cake and eat it.

They wanted someone to invest in the club but not own it. They've got that now. They decided to go with Kevin Keehan and his consortium '“ but there is no consortium. The people they introduced to the club are for the sporting hub, Active Lewes '“ whatever you want to call it. They're not there for Lewes Football Club. How it can be in the best interests of Lewes Football Club is beyond me.

"I totally understand from talking to Martin Elliott and Kevin Powell that their drive and passion is for the Sporting Hub. Mine was for the football club. I don't understand why they don't get out and concentrate on the sporting hub and let people in who want to keep the club at the level it's at '“ or even progess it further.

"But they've shown they are prepared to let it go backwards by allowing what has happened to the team.

"It saddens me to feel what's going to happen to the team, with inferior players and people who don't understand managing at that level. I'm all for opportunity for people, but I believe the conference is not the level to start at. I got my opportunity at Ryman One level.

That's maybe where this manangment duo should have started '“ not by buying their way into a conference national job.

"I feel that the club is goimg to go backwards now '“ after all the hard work done on and off the pitch of the last seven years.

"It's now going to end up on a downward spiral. Lewes are already the laughing stock of Sussex and wider across non league. It breaks my heart to see that happen to the club I love.

Talking about his future, he said, "I've had a couple of offers for jobs but they were not the right jobs. I don't want to go into a job just for the sake of having a job. I want a club that's willing to match my ambition.

"I'm disgusted that after five years' service, a letter fell through door with a Lewes stamp on '“ I thought it was a letter thanking me for my service at the club '“ but it was my P45. That was their final act.

"But I'll always look out for Lewes' results '“ for the rest of my life. My feelings toward the supporters and town are first class '“ but not the people in charge of it.

"I changed my whole life to move down here. I know it goes with the territory of being a football manager '“ but you don't expect it after three promotions, two championships, two FA Cup runs, two play-offs, three semi-finals of the Sussex Senior Cup and one Sussex Senior Cup win."

In a message to the fans, "Thanks for the support over the five years. I'll miss all of you. I hope one day our paths will cross again."