'Undermined' Oaks boss Gander quits

Gander handed in his resignation following a meeting with chairman Tom Parker on Monday evening.

This week he told Express Sport he quit because of an incident that had "left a sour taste in the mouth".

Meanwhile, Steve Richardson '“ who this week moved from the boardroom to over from Gander as caretaker manager, revealed that he and fellow committee members had talked to players in the clubhouse after the game to "ask them why they wanted to leave" the club.

Gander said, "I'm disappointed. There was an incident in the clubhouse after the game on Saturday which left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. The way things were being done, actions of people around the club who I respected. Committee members operating in a manner that I didn't think was correct.

"If you look at the results this season, they have proven to be frustrating, certainly on the back of our success last year. It wasn't quite happening for the first team, although the youth team are doing well in their first year in the county league and the reserves side is high up in their division.

"We were building on what we had at Wealden Football Club, and we were only halfway through the league programme. I am sure we would not have been far off promotion form. If people have elected to look at recent results and take action then they have been a little bit premature. But I don't think people around the club were unhappy with results."

Gander told Express Sport he spoke to chairman Tom Parker about the 'incident' at a meeting that had been pre-arranged before Saturday's events had taken place.

He said, "I'd had time to think things over over the weekend and I was hoping that the meeting would be more positive.

"I wanted an answer as to why the incident happened. But it wasn't really forthcoming. I still didn't understand why the events happened in the manner that they did.

"My position had been undermined. It gave me no alternative but to hand in my resignation."

Richardson, well-known in Sussex football as 'Rico' said, "Tom (Parker) just asked me to talk to the players. There were quite a few players who weren't happy. I spoke to them about why they all wanted to leave. I just wanted to ask them why everybody was down.

"We were going to talk to Andy afterwards. I didn't think he would throw it in on Monday. I don't understand why he's thrown it all away. But it all depends on how it got interpreted by Andy."

Richardson said he would try and convince the likes of Danny Curd and Chris Morrow to stay at The Oaks when the players met for training last night.

"I need to speak to them tonight and we'll go from there," he said.

Club secretary Derek York said, "I don't want to comment too much on it but Andy got upset with a couple of things that happened at the club. He met the chairman on Monday night and offered his resignation.

"We wanted to find a replacement quickly and Rico, with his experience, fitted the bill so I and Tom Parker asked him to take over, I should imagine, until the end of the season."

Tom Parker was this week unavailable for comment.

n Assistant managers Dean Bradford and Mark Cox, and club coach Mick Fogden, have also left the club .