AFC Telford captain backs call to part with boss
AFC Telford United captain Ryan Valentine today claimed the club had no choice but to part company with boss Andy Sinton.
Manager Sinton paid the price for 16 league games without a win, which laid to waste a once promising campaign and left Telford two points from Blue Square Bet Premier safety.
Recently-appointed assistant Graham Hyde will take charge of the team which makes another attempt to end the sequence at home to Cambridge on Saturday.
But skipper Valentine admitted the brutal realities of football made the manager's exit all but inevitable as Telford try to put a brake on their lurch towards relegation.
"It's never nice – I'm sure all the lads, everyone at the club, will feel responsible or at least partly responsible for the manager's departure," said Valentine.
"I've been at clubs before when a manager has left and you always feel to blame. But maybe it was a change that was needed to stop this run.
"It's terrible, it's dismal – it's the worst I've ever known as a footballer and I imagine that's the same for most of the lads.
"But we have to look forward now. We've got 16 games left to sort ourselves out and make sure we get clear of the relegation zone.
"I will speak to the players at training tonight and I will speak with Andy privately before I say any more publicly.
"That's just the way I prefer to do things. But while it's not nice to say, the focus has to be on what comes after and that means Saturday's game against Cambridge."
