Moyse quits as Bexhill manager

Moyse decided to part company with the Sussex Division Three club because he felt the probability of players being asked to pay subs would restrict his chances of assembling a squad capable of challenging for promotion.

"I would have done anything to get that club back on track," he said. "I've been talking to players for the last six months. It's a shame it's gone like that, but if that's the way they want to go forward I don't want to do it."

Moyse took charge at the Polegrove at the end of November and, during a difficult second half of the season, managed only one win and three draws from 23 games to confirm Bexhill's position at the foot of Division Two.

Relegation had always looked on the cards from the early days of the last campaign but Moyse still felt confident he could put together a squad good enough to bounce straight back into senior football, but the club's intention of asking players to pay subs next season has changed all that.

"I don't think you can do that. You can't expect players to pay subs when they have come from County One football. I was after a couple of players from Rye and Sidley who would have definitely come down," he said.

"I had another manager coming in with me because it was a lot of work last year and I had enough of doing it myself. I started recruiting players for next year and then I got a phone call saying the players have got to pay subs next year.

"The players I have been trying to get hold of are First Division players so when I turned round and said if you come next year you've got to pay subs obviously they're, like, 'hold on, I don't want it to cost me money'.

"It just made it impossible to pick the side I wanted and I said I'm not having a season like we struggled last year. This year I would have sorted it out," he went on.

"The club isn't as ambitious as I am because I was hoping that this year we'd come straight back up.

"I just don't think it gave me the option to do what I wanted to do," he added. "Last season I put a lot into Bexhill, away from the football as well. I wish them luck but to me it's going nowhere."

Bexhill secretary Bill Trivett admitted it was a "probability" that players would be asked to pay subs next season unless the club received a major cash injection in the form of sponsorship.

"They have paid subs in the past. I think most intermediate clubs do ask their players to pay subs," he said.

"It's not something the committee wants to do and it will be lifted as soon as possible.

"If something great happens during the summer the first thing we would say is the players don't have to pay subs, but we need a year of financial stability. We are not in trouble but survival in financial terms is just as important as survival in Division Three. In the long term things will be fine."

Trivett, who estimated players' subs across three teams would generate around 2,500 over the course of the season, added: "I'm sorry to see Gerard go because he did an excellent job in very difficult times."