FORMER Tadcaster Albion manager Andy Monkhouse has admitted that the choice to leave the club ‘wasn’t an easy decision to make’.

Monkhouse took charge of the club in late December, but after 21 games and no wins, it was always going to be difficult to keep Tadcaster afloat in the Northern Premier League East, with their relegation confirmed in late-March.

The Hartlepool United legend will now take a break from football, but hopes to return to Tadcaster as a supporter next season.

“It was obviously a decision that wasn’t an easy decision to make.” Monkhouse told the Press.

“For the last few weeks really I’ve just decided that it was time to leave and that’s the decision that I have come to.

“There’s a number of reasons really, the club have got a few things to sort out as in finding a new chairman and things like that coming into the club.

“It would have been a case of having to rebuild a squad to go into a new league, and at the time of thinking about that it was just too much to take on.

“I didn’t want to commit and not see it through, so I made the decision quite quick so it gives the club time to act and hopefully they can get the off-field stuff sorted out .

“Hopefully they can appoint a good manager and be successful next year and the years to come.

“I finished my career at Tadcaster, I wasn’t there for very long as a player but to be then invited back in as a coach, and then as assistant manager and then as manager.

“This decision hasn’t been made lightly, I have a lot of friends at the club, I get along with a number of volunteers at the club and the chairman now, they’ve been great with me.

“It was just a decision that I felt I had to take myself. I just hope that they can get the things sorted off-the-pitch and hopefully get things right on it by appointing the right manager and some good players.

“If they get off to a good start next year then the crowd will come back and it’ll be a feel-good.

“I told everyone who volunteers that I’ll see them at a game next year at some point.

“I have nothing but good things to say about the club, it was just a decision that I had to make.”

Monkhouse opened up on his plans after the Tadcaster job, and isn’t in any rush to return to management any time soon.

“Definitely not playing! There wasn’t a case that I’ve had messages or calls saying that I must have something lined up, that’s not the case.

“It’s just a decision I’ve made and I’m not actively looking at this time to get back into football or management or coaching.

“I’m just going to take a little bit of time out and if things do pop up then I’ll make the decision, but it’s not something that I envisage happening quickly.

“I said to the players after the game on Saturday just thanking them for the effort they gave me since January in really difficult circumstances.

“They never gave in and tried their best, they did all I ever wanted them to do.

“Unfortunately from the start of the season until I took over was really poor, and we couldn’t get close enough to the teams to put them under pressure and ultimately we got relegated.

“But regarding the players, they did everything I asked them to do and just fell short.”

Monkhouse also admitted that he had learnt from the experience, and has explained why the club struggled in the earlier stages of the season.

“I’ve definitely learnt, that’s part of being a manager and a coach.

“You can’t always be good and successful at winning things, sometimes things don’t go your way.

“The start of the season rolled into another manager coming in, then you’re playing with different players and different managers players and squads, the amount of players that the club have had this year was too much.

“I decided when I took the job to make the squad smaller, and go for some younger players with a bit of a desire to do well.

“That’s what I went for and that’s what they did, we got a few loans in from professional clubs to give them game time and all of the players that I brought in did well.

“They did well for me, they did well for themselves. I keep saying it but if you play 21 games, have eight points and no wins, then it’s going to be difficult for whoever the manager is and whoever the players are to get themselves out of that situation.

“I knew that it was going to be difficult, I would have liked to have taken it a little bit closer to the end of the season, but it was just too much for everybody to try and stay up.

“Unfortunately we got relegated to the level below and hopefully the club can bounce back.”