Ford explains his departure from VCD Athletic

Martin Ford’s resignation as VCD Athletic boss came as a shock to many outside the club, but it was a decision long in the brewing, writes Tim Ashton.

Immediately after his resignation, Ford cited personal issues and not footballing issues were to blame.

Chairman Gary Rump has put assistant manager Dean Frost in charge for the remainder of the season.

Ford wanted the dust to settle before he set the record straight and now, in his first full-length interview with News Shopper, he does just that.

Ford, who took over the reins at VCD in 1993, says off-the-pitch problems had been affecting the football team's performances and, moreover, his family life for about six months.

He told www.newsshopper.co.uk : "The chairman and I saw eye to eye on most things but I felt I did not have his full backing on how I wanted to take the club, not just the first team, forward.

"I know a football club is geared towards the first team but I felt some of the things beneath the first team needed to be addressed and people need to look at the whole big issue of the club rather than just the first team.

"If you look at VCD's success over the years it has been purely based on first team results but the under-18s, the reserves, the Kent Youth section needed to be made a lot stronger and needed to be moved forward and the chairman had his ideas about how that should happen and I had mine."

According to Ford these differences of opinion were standing in the way of his running of the first team saying: "The last few months have been a constant battle about decisions and all I want to do is turn up and manage the first team.

"I thought the outside interference was getting to the team and once that happens you start to wonder is it all worth it.

"It is not a position I get paid for, it has purely voluntary for 14 years and I know you need new people to take the club forward but I don't think the new people have the club's best interests at heart."

While not wanting to point the finger, Ford says some of the personal criticism written about him and his family on website forums has been too much to bear.

He said: "Obviously the club has been very successful in the cups and we've been there or thereabouts in the league every year.

"But we have not won the league title since I have been there and there is a faction within in the club which sees it as a failure.

"What they don't realise is the amount of prize money we have won over the years, the cup finals we have been in and the cups we have won."

He added: "I think people were starting to judge me having been at the club 14 years and not having won the title but we have been in the top three almost every year like we still are now.

"You can take a certain amount of criticism but when it affects your family life and your personal life then it is time to call it day."

Ford may sound bitter about the circumstances surrounding his decision to leave but he bears no ill will to his chairman and wishes the club all the best for the future.

He said: "I have been at the club for 14 years and we have enjoyed a great deal of success and I have loved every minute of it.

"VCD has changed quite dramatically over the past six months with the new chairman coming in and the new ground and it has been great.

"The chairman has put in a lot of his own money which is fantastic, it is what the club needed, but personally the past few months have been an absolute nightmare and I have had to suffer a lot of rubbish being written about me but that really has not bothered me.

"All I want is for it not to affect the club and I feel now is a good time to bow out and look for a new club and a fresh challenge."

He added: "The players and coaching staff are absolutely fantastic. VCD have been fantastic to me and hopefully I have repaid them in the years I have been there. Hopefully I have put the club on the map and they can push on to bigger and better things.

"I have so many fantastic memories of the place over the past 14 years that the past few months are not going to spoil that. I just wish the club, the players and Dean Frost all the best for the future."

So what now for Martin Ford - it is unlikely someone with his pedigree will be out of management for long.

He said: "I want to manage at a higher standard of football but if there is a Kent League club which want me in there and help them get promotion then that is fine too.

"At this stage I have not ruled out what standard of management I want to go into. I just want a club which is ambitious and wants to go forward, if they want a good manager then I would be interested."

The chairman said: "I want to thank Martin for the many years of service he has given the club - his hard work, commitment and dedication have been very commendable.

"At a meeting with Martin last month I had the unenviable responsibility of telling him his wife's services at the club, with regards to the match-day programme and kitchen work, were no longer required for reasons I prefer to keep quiet.

"Martin explained how his wife obviously came before the club and it eventually led to his resignation."

Article courtesy of www.newsshopper.co.uk