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Danny Lye says leaving Ashford United wasn’t a sudden decision. The 36-year-old player-manager left the club by “mutual consent” last week but says he resigned and was not sacked. Lye led United to the Southern Counties East League, Premier Division title and promotion back to the Isthmian League in April for the first time in seven seasons, having taken over almost two years to the day, when Paul Chambers was sacked. The parting of the ways for Lye came just two games into the new season and hours after the 5-0 Bostik South defeat at South Park last Tuesday (August 15), when United had two players sent off but Lye says that wasn’t a factor in his departure either. He said: “My thoughts about things had been ongoing through pre-season and into the first week. “People may say it was sudden but it wasn’t a rash decision on my part because we lost 5-0. I was thinking of leaving four days before the start of the season. “Pre-season preparations started a long time ago and there were certain things I requested that hadn’t happened in that time and that bugs me a little bit and if I am not enjoying something I will walk away. “I did it as a player and I think in management you should have the same approach, if you are not enjoying something that is a hobby and meant to be fun.

“I had a fall-out with the club leading up to the first game because I had organised playing and training kit on June 1 and it was August 8 and we still didn’t have the stuff to turn out and look a proper team in for the first game of the season.

“Little things like that annoy me and once my mind decided that’s it, there was no way back and where we went with it.

“I knew in my heart then what might happen but it got me through the first couple of games but then I decided I wouldn’t be able to do it.

Lye says his two years in charge proved to be a tough first job in management

He said: “I did it for free last year as a token of goodwill to Don (chief executive DonCrosbie) and the club. I bought all the home and away kit, training kit tracksuits, out of my own money and I think that should be put on the record.”

“Minotaur were hunting everybody down and I wanted us to look the real deal on the pitch and still functioning like a proper football club.”

Lye was happy with the way things were going off the pitch but says changes to the budget had an effect. He said: “There was a build-up over the last couple of months and the way things were progressing, things like the academy were doing well, but in terms of my season’s ambitions and the way it was panning out, it had become evident that my squad wasn’t deep enough to do it the way I wanted.

“The budget I was given before the season started was quite different in the wrong direction and I had to let a few players go like Stuart West and Joe Vines, who were guys I wanted to keep but didn’t fit to make everything else work.

“Obviously, the club have got figures to meet but it was a lot less than what I had at the end of last season.

“I put a team together during pre-season but we got a few injuries and by the time the budget has been increased to somewhere near where it was, it was too late to get the players I wanted in.”

Lye also denies his decision had anything to do with poor discipline, after Mr Crosbie suggested last week he had taken “a few strong words” about it personally and decided to leave.

He said: “Don told me last season it wasn’t good enough but they couldn’t really have a go at me because I won the league.

“We were an aggressive side last year. We have had three sent off this season in the first two games, one of those was ill discipline,the others were just football.

“I accepted that and told the boys after the South Park game what I and the club expect.

“That didn’t annoy me and I wasn’t going to quit or get the hump about it, it was just things not being done correctly or right.”

‘People say it was sudden but it wasn’t a rash decision on my part’