STEVE Jay is aiming to get back into management as soon as possible after leaving Ridgeons League Division One side Stowmarket Town.

Jay left Stowmarket, who were without a win in their opening seven league games, by mutual consent last Friday just hours before they beat Brightlingsea Regent 4-0.

The club initially announced Jay had resigned from the position he took over before the start of last season, when he guided Stowmarket to a seventh-placed finish after looking likely to win promotion for much of the campaign.

Jay said: “I was asked to resign by Neil Sharp, the chairman, but refused because I didn’t want to be seen to be walking away from a sinking ship.

“I knew sooner or later that we would break our duck in the league, so it was ironic it was the week I left.

“We had won 4-3 the week previous at Stanton in the Suffolk Senior Cup and showed some character, and I thought maybe it was the turning point. I spoke to the chairman and he said the character had returned, and then on Wednesday I had a phone call asking me to go down to the club on Friday. “When we met I agreed with him that the results were not good enough, but said I would not resign when asked to, although I did not leave on bad terms.”

Jay and Stowmarket’s cause was not helped by the loss of former Hadleigh United marksman Craig Payne, who joined from Woodbridge Town earlier this season and has since suffered a cruciate knee injury that requires an operation which could rule him out for up to a year.

Ex-Hadleigh United manager Jay, whose assistant Glenn Read has also left Stowmarket, said he was keen to return to management as soon as possible.

“I want to get back in to it as soon as I can, whether as a manager or as an assistant somewhere - I don’t want to be sat at home twiddling my thumbs,” he added.

Chairman Sharp said of Jay’s departure: “We mutually agreed something had to change to move the club forward and it was easier to change one person than a whole team. We shook hands and he wished me all the best and I wished him all the best.”

Sharp said he had received “numerous” enquiries but the club will not be rushing in to making a decision, in order to get the right person in place.

John Griffin took over in a caretaker capacity for last Saturday’s match and will remain in charge until a permanent appointment is made.