Chester FC chief executive Mark Maguire says the decision to part company with manager Jon McCarthy was something done ‘with a heavy heart’.
McCarthy was sacked by the Blues on Wednesday morning after mounting pressure came to a head after a dismal 2-0 defeat at lowly Solihull Moors.
That defeat meant Chester had taken just seven points from 42 on offer this season and, with fans voicing their anger at the final whistle, the Blues board decided to act and parted company with McCarthy.
Said Maguire: “You get to a tipping point in football where as much as you want something to succeed you have to come to the conclusion that it’s not working so with a very heavy heart we made a decision that the time had come to make a change.
“It is never nice and this is harder than most situations like this because you are dealing with a thoroughly decent man who has put his heart and soul into a football club which he was genuinely committed to. However correct the decision it is a really tough day.
“There were a lot of tears around the place from staff and volunteers who were very sorry to see a gentleman go.
“One way or another, through some poor performances, through injuries which have hampered and events conspiring against us we got to a position where what we needed to see was performances as much as results.
“In the absence of that we were inevitably going to reach the point where we needed to make a decision.
“The board have been really strong in sticking to the principles of the club, sticking to a professional ethic which means you make judgements at the right point of time in the right way.”
Attention now turns to who will succeed McCarthy, with names such as Graham Barrow, Andy Holden and Ronnie Moore all linked while the Chronicle understands former Southport manager Dino Maamria will be throwing his hat into the ring.
Tom Shaw, Dave Felgate and Calum McIntyre will take temporary charge of the team for the visit of Ebbsfleet United on Saturday (3pm).
And Maguire says that the club have a new man in place before the month is out.
“We have to be efficient and we have got to give it a proper period of time to do it the right way,” he said.
“An advert will have been issued by the time we have finished this conversation and a deadline of seven days for applicants to put forward their interest.
“We have asked Tom to take the team for the next three games and we would hope to make an appointment with a fair wind before the Maidenhead game (September 23). If we can keep to that, great, but you know what things are like, some things may delay us or some things may accelerate.”
