Ebbsfleet United manager Liam Daish has left the club after eight years in charge
16:36, 17 May 2013
Liam Daish has left Ebbsfleet United by mutual consent.
The 44-year-old had a year left to run on his contract at Stonebridge Road but he departs the club after more than eight years in charge.
Daish’s exit comes just four days after the club’s owners MyFootballClub voted to sell the club to a group of Kuwaiti investors led by former Charlton chief executive Peter Varney.
The former Birmingham and Coventry defender became the Fleet’s longest-serving manager last summer but he couldn’t save the Fleet from relegation back to Conference South.
Daish led Ebbsfleet to FA Trophy glory at Wembley in 2008. The club were relegated from Blue Square Premier in 2009-10 but the former Republic of Ireland international led them straight back up via the play-offs a year later.
However, he described last season as the most difficult of his football career, with the Fleet struggling to survive in the top tier of non-league football. The club faced debts of £500,000 and were threatened with a winding-up order by HM Revenue & Customs before Varney and KEH Sports Ltd arrived with a rescue package.
Daish said: "I have enjoyed eight wonderful years at Ebbsfleet United and have brought the club some of the most successful times in its history. Obviously last season’s relegation was a major disappointment but the financial problems off the pitch did not help and I am pleased that the club will now have owners that will stabilise the financial position of the club and hopefully take it forward.
"I must thank all the players who played for me at my time at the club as well as all the backroom and office staff.
"Above all I must thank the supporters who have always backed me 100% and I hope this is the start of better times ahead for the club. I will certainly be looking out for their results with a keen interest."
Ebbsfleet chief executive Jessica McQueen added: "The new owners of the club and Liam sat down today (Friday) and had a frank and amicable discussion about the problems that currently face the club as well as the future plans for it when KEH Sports Ltd assumes control of the club at the end of May.
"In the light of those discussions, both parties agreed that this is the right time for the club to effect a change in the first-team management arrangements. Liam has been at the club for some eight years and created his place in Ebbsfleet’s history when the club won the FA Trophy for the first time ever.
"Liam has left on very good terms and the prospective new owners have made it clear he will be welcome back at any time in the future. Liam has even offered to pass on any appropriate knowledge to the new management team which says everything about the man."
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