Lloyd Blackman has revealed why he stepped down as Ramsgate head coach.

Blackman quit the club following the 3-1 defeat at Three Bridges and he leaves Southwood with the Rams 13th in Bostik South East.

He admitted the club’s appointment of the controversial Paul Bowden-Brown as chief executive was a factor in his decision.

Blackman said: “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.

“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, the chairman Martin Able, ex-chairman Phil Fennell and the rest of the board for the opportunity to manage this great club.

“As for the players and staff, it has been an absolute privilege to work with 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.”

Blackman joined the club as first-team coach in December 2015 and was promoted to head coach in January 2017.

He led them to a 12th-placed finish although the Rams finished down in 16th in Blackman’s only full season in charge.

Mr Lawson said: "Lloyd worked very closely with our previous chairman Phil Fennel. They formed a close working relationship and from that a vision to move forward evolved.

"While the club is in good shape, people are forgetting that any changes happening at the club stem from Phil resigning his role two weeks into this season. This could not have come at a worse time for the club and of course the nature of their working relationship changed.

"Martin Able stepped in as interim chairman and thankfully kept us running with the help of the directors but it was clear we still needed more help and guidance to continue our good work.

"After much discussion Paul Bowden-Brown joined the club and as an experienced non-league football man wants things to run as he has done for the last 30 years.

"There are no hidden agendas, just a desire to use an established blueprint which works.

"Unfortunately Lloyd having lost the relationship with Phil didn’t feel he could further change direction and consequently resigned. We all tried unsuccessfully to talk him out of resigning, including Paul."