Ryan Maxwell is staying as Sittingbourne manager, performing a u-turn just a week after he announced that he was leaving the Brickies. 

The announcement was made at the Club’s end of season awards night and was greeted with scenes of celebration among the Brickies supporters present. The popular Irishman had just last week announced that he would be leaving the Roman Stadium but has changed his mind. 

“I had had an offer from a Club very close to my home,” the Gaffer explained.

“I had accepted the offer, but it has proved so hard to leave Sittingbourne. If I say something I mean it, it was so tough to leave anyway. I sat with it for a while and spoke with my family, and my wife Amy said to me that if you are not happy, then we will not be happy.

“It is ok going closer to home, but if you are not happy, and it would not have mattered who it was, it was leaving this Club it was not about where I was going, she knew it was about leaving this behind. She said to me that I should really try and work something out in terms of saving some time in terms of travel and training.” 

“This is where Andrew (Vice Chairman Andrew Marjeram) comes in to be magnificent; he worked with me on everything he could possibly do to make it happen and I cannot tell you how much respect that I have for Andrew for doing so, because I didn’t really want to leave in the first place.

“It was more a necessity and he made that a lot smaller a problem than it was initially. I just want to make one thing clear, he did not have to; he could have easily got another manager a lot closer to Sittingbourne where he has not had to jump through hoops.” 

When Maxwell first announced his departure because he wanted to spend more time with his young family, there wasn’t a single dissenting voice aired among the Brickies support, something that clearly touched Maxwell.

“I couldn’t believe that there was not that there was one negative comment, and I could not believe it! And that is one of the reasons that I am staying, it is the fans, and the reaction from the fans when we announced it at the Presentations will live with me forever.

“Everyone understood my reasons for going and my wife went with me to the presentation as I wanted her to see what Sittingbourne means to me and the supporters, why we are so connected and why it is so enjoyable for me to manage this Football Club.

“She understands it now if she had not done before, she does now! Some of the fans have even thanked her as they said that it could not have been an easy conversation for us to have!” 

“The fans reaction when the announcement was made shocked me, but it didn’t shock me because this is why this Club is so different and unique and it’s a huge part of why my management team and I have done a U-turn.

“We’ve gone from third bottom when we first came to third top and so very close last season on a project and there are people behind the scenes who I trust and I know they will keep on backing me and driving it. If everyone is in line, were halfway there, and to leave that without knowing what the future holds or held elsewhere.” 

“We kept it a secret as I hoped that it would be a positive thing for the fans to hear and the reaction, we got will live with me forever it was very humbling to just know how much everyone has appreciated the work so far, but now we have more work to do..” 

“We haven’t done anything yet, so the goal remains to get this Club up!”