In an exclusive interview with KSN, former Tonbridge Angels boss Steve McKimm has been telling us about the dramatic events that saw him sacked, which it would be fair to say came as a shock to everyone – especially McKimm.

Tonbridge Angels are beginning the look for a new manager after Steve McKimm’s surprise sacking on Tuesday evening.

“Bitterly disappointed to lose the job,” he told us. “I’ve always been at clubs with longevity and this one is going to stick in the gut for a while because it’s a club where my family was taken into – it’s a community club that we bought into and they bought into us, and I’d like to think that they go onto good things.”

“It’s just a shame that I’m not there to be involved in all the new ventures at the Club, with the new pitch next season. I’m not bitter – it’s not sour grapes, I’m just disappointed at the way it was done. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but there is a respectful way to do it, and I don’t think that that’s been done.”

“It really was a bolt out of the blue,” McKimm admitted. “This season we were asked to keep the side up in the division because the new 3G pitch was being proposed for next season.”

“When the club got the agreement for it, that remit didn’t change – we needed to stay up and we did. There was no points tally agreed, there was no agreement what position in the League – it was “just” a question of staying up this season and building for next!”

“It’s a job we were asked to do, and we’ve done to the best of our ability. We knew where things had gone wrong this season, and I’d identified that to the players, the staff, and the club where the changes need to be made next year and Tuesday night really was something that I wasn’t expecting.”

“We had a great Trophy run to the last sixteen beating two National League sides; our points per game since Christmas would have put us further up the table and people have been telling us that we’ve been playing some good football, but just not getting the rub of the green!”

“Football is football and managers are going to get sacked. But the reasons I’ve been given for being sacked I don’t agree with, but you’ve got to respect the Club’s decision because the Club is going to be there a lot longer than Steve McKimm.”

“The timing of it all is the hardest thing for me to take. People say that there’s never a good time for a player to be released or a manager sacked, but I feel that with one game to go… I was asked if I wanted to take the game on Saturday (away to St Albans City), but I couldn’t as I told the director who gave me the news that I’ve been sacked, so how can I go and manage the team – it would have been all about me rather than the team?”

“I personally can’t believe that this was a spur of the moment decision. I was talking to the directors after the Eastbourne game at Longmead on Bank Holiday Monday in general conversations and then Tuesday night they make the decision off the cuff to get rid of me!”

“That is my own personal opinion – I don’t know what goes on in other people’s minds and their talks… With the reasoning given as well that they don’t see me taking the Club further, then I do find that a little bit hard, not to be given the chance after eight years in the job.”

“Another reason I was given was that if things weren’t happening by November, if a new manager was to come in, the Club couldn’t support the new man with the funds to maybe get them out of trouble, which again I disagreed with.”

“I’ve had nothing but positive support since the announcement was made. There were messages from the Tonbridge fans, messages from other club’s fans voicing their opinions, I’ve had players and ex-players messaging me, players I’ve come up against, managers I’ve come up against – it’s all been positive!”

“Barry and I have done the best that we can – we’re not irreplaceable, I’m not saying that – I’m not bitter about it, I’m just disappointed the way it happened and how it’s happened; the reason behind it!”

“That’s something that I will never ever be able to understand. Now I’m quite open minded, I’m quite understanding, but this is the sort of thing that I can’t understand with the reasoning given why I’ve being replaced – and it just doesn’t add up!”

“I’ll never be bitter or angry or detrimental towards the Club because they gave me my first job in management, and it put me on a good pathway. I’m bitterly disappointed of how it’s been handled, and I think I deserve personally – although some may disagree – a little more respect than what’s been given to me!”

“There’s no-one at the Club that I can knock because that would come across as me being bitter because I’m being replaced… and that’s something that I would never do! I’ll never say a bad word against the Club as that’s not me and not in my nature.”

“There have been highlights we’ve shared. The Trophy run this year has been remarkable, the furthest the Club’s ever been in the competition; the FA Cup run last season was good; the promotion season was good where we had some ups and downs during that campaign and we had to fight through adversity, but I have to say that getting promoted is top of it all – we had to go through three tough games, we proved a lot of doubters wrong that season from outside of the Club.”