BOLD SMITH HAS HAD ENOUGH!

BOSS Steve Smith said it was the right time to bow out at Bishop’s Stortford despite feeling vexed over finishing his managerial career with a relegation.

Majority shareholder Smith this week announced he would vacate the dugout, but not the football club, at the end of a season that has ended in a drop back into Step 3 after one season in National League North.

Promoted as Isthmian League champions last season, the Blues railed against being pushed northwards for the second time in recent history.

A lost FA appeal over the allocation led to the breakup of the successful side and landed the club with far more onerous travelling costs.

Relegation was confirmed by mid-March, leaving former Chelmsford City and Heybridge Swifts manager Smith with mixed emotions.

“I thought it was a disgusting decision at the time and I don’t change my view on that,” Smith told

The NLP: Familiar

“It has really hurt us as a club, financially and in terms of losing players that we worked hard to get.

“It was our first title for 30 years, they are great memories and something I will treasure until my dying day – a lot of people manage for years without winning anything. It is just disappointing we were not able to build on that. “Had we gone in the National South, I think we would have built because we would have kept players, we would definitely have competed and been mid-table, maybe top half of that league with the squad I had.

“We have had to deal with it, we have stuck it out all season and some of the lads have stuck it out with me. I applaud them for that because a lot of lads would have left with the run we were on but they stood by me and I thank them for that.

“This is not sour grapes over our relegation, we deserved to go down having struggled all season but a lot of that has been down to the players we lost.

Energy

“It is not because of this season that I am standing down. I am 68 next year and I think you can become too familiar sometimes and whether some of the boys stay or go, it needs a new face, new ideas and someone younger with a bit more energy.

“I think it is the right decision for me and, most importantly, the club. People come and go but the football club is still there.

“The club has improved massively since we took over and we will go again. Hopefully we can start to build something again.”

With the exception of this season’s on-field fortunes, Smith said he had “loved every minute” and insisted that the end of the managerial career would not see him quit football altogether.

“I am definitely staying on in some capacity,” he added. “I will still help out in other areas but I will be able to relax now, take in the game without having the hump all weekend and the wife not talking to me for three days.

“It is not just a Saturday, you live and breathe it all week – if you don’t, you shouldn’t be doing the job. I have given it everything I have, I could not have given any more. I can hand over the reins with my head held high.”