Canterbury City have issued a statement confirming that manager Clive Cook and his squad have quit.

However they deny speculation that the club's relationship with main sponsor Mark Quinn has hit the rocks.

Outgoing manager Cook revealed on Friday that he, the rest of his coaching staff and all the players had left the Southern Counties East League club following a meeting on Thursday night.

He claimed that the squad hadn’t been paid for four weeks and although all monies owed were received shortly before Thursday's meeting the trust had gone.

Cook added that main sponsor Mr Quinn had pulled out and was 'putting his money into something else.'

The club's statement, released on Friday afternoon, said: "The club can confirm reports on social media that Clive Cook and his management team have stepped down from the first team set up at Canterbury City Football Club.

"This follows a meeting with Clive on Monday when it was explained that due to the stadium planning application being pushed back until late Summer 2020, and the knock on effect that this has had with potential sponsors that a budget review was necessary and the club needed to re-evaluate their aspirations for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

"Realistic aspirations for the club pending knowing with more certainty the timing and likely date of any decision on a planning application are for a mid-table finish this season as a prudent and sensible position to adopt.

"Clive relayed the situation to the players at a meeting on Thursday and following that Clive and the players decided to leave the club.

"We wish Clive and everyone else the best for the future.

"We are actively looking to recruit a new first team manager and hope to have an announcement in this regard at the beginning of next week.

"We would also like to quash any rumours that the club's relationship with Quinn Estates, our main club sponsor and the developer who will be putting in the planning application, is anything other than excellent.

"We continue to work with Quinn Estates for the rest of this season and the seasons beyond both on the pitch and off the pitch so far as a fresh planning application for the club's long overdue stadium is concerned."

The statement added that the club would make further announcements as soon as it was able to.

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