Lloyd Blackman steps down as Ramsgate head coach: After much publicised recent changes at the club, I felt I was unable to continue with the stability and trust I had always been afforded

LLOYD BLACKMAN has revealed the reasons behind his shock resignation as the head coach of Ramsgate last night.

 

Blackman was doing an outstanding job at Southwood Stadium with such a young squad but has resigned following yesterday’s 3-1 defeat at Three Bridges, which leaves the club in thirteenth-place in the Bostik South East Division table with 17 points from 13 games.


Ramsgate head coach Lloyd Blackman has stepped down from his role at Southwood Stadium.

Blackman, who took charge in January 2017 after serving as coach to Jim and Danny Ward, hinted that the changes off-the-pitch which involved former Thamesmead Town owner Paul Bowden-Brown controversially coming in on board after the sad demise of his former club has ensured that Blackman couldn’t carry on in his current role.

“After much publicised recent changes at the club, I felt I was unable to continue with the stability and trust I had always been afforded,” said Blackman, 35.

“I was also keen not to be moving away from the philosophy we had all been working so hard to implement for the last two years.

“The club have been great and done all that they could to persuade me to stay, however, after giving it six weeks of transition, I don’t feel the circumstances are right for me to continue.

“It is with a heavy heart that I thank the owner Richard (Lawson), Martin Able, the chairman, ex-chairman Phil Fennel and the rest of the board for the opportunity to manage this great club.

“Also the players and my staff, it has been an absolute privilege to work and manage every single one of them and I thank them for their loyalty and professionalism, which created some amazing performances especially in this season’s FA Cup.

“I leave behind an incredibly talented, young, local squad of players of whom the club can be extremely proud.

“Lastly, I want to thank the amazing fans who come rain or shine have supported me unequivocally throughout.

“I have learnt so much from my two years in charge and I look forward to using that knowledge and experience to get back into management as soon as possible should the right opportunity arise.”

After replacing the Ward brothers at the helm, Blackman immediately installed a new spirit into the team and in spite of looking in dire threat of relegation when he took over, led the club on a tremendous run, which saw Ramsgate finish in 12^th place in the table.

Despite a mixed season in 2017-18, the Rams finished in sixteenth-place in the table, despite blooding many young players.

This season, Folkestone-based Blackman presided over the club’s best FA Cup run for many years, notably for the fantastic win at Gosport Borough before eventually losing 5-0 at Vanarama National League South side Hemel Hempstead Town in The Third Qualifying Round.

Ramsgate host seventh-placed Ashford United to Southwood Stadium on Saturday, 15 December (15:00) as the club begin the search for a new manager.

Ian Docker, who has been appointed as the club’s executive assistant – and was Mr Bowden-Brown’s right-hand man at Thamesmead Town – will be sifting through the applications.

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk