The Lewes Saga Continues- Return Of The King

Return Of The King

Today Lewes FC finally announced the decision that had been taken on their new manager. The decision had been delayed by over a week due to suspected difficulties with getting contracts signed. Rumours have been flying around as to who the manager would be and there were some big names involved such as John Maggs, Simon Colbran and Danny Cullip. However it has been announced this morning that Steve King will be the next Lewes manager.

King was Lewes manager back in 2007 and lead them to wininng the Blue Square South title in his time at the club before being sacked by then director Martin Elliot just one week after winning the title. This lead to a mass exodus of Lewes playeers and meant that they have suffered twice from relegation in just three years, dropping down to the Ryman Premier league.

Since leaving Lewes, Steve King joined Conference Premier side Northwhitch Victoria where he resigned just a few months in to the job as wages were not being payed to him or the players and it was an extremly long journey not to be paid for.

King then joined up With Farnborough who he lead to winning the Ryman Premier and then last season came runner up in the Blue Square Bet South, only to find himself out of  job again, howeveer there are conflicting views as to whether he resigned or whether he was fired over a fall out with the chairman over full time status.

The decision to puyt Steve King in charge has been a contoversial one as it is rumoured that he applied late and according to an ex-assistant manager recieved "special treatment". It is rumoured that Steve first applied for the Braintree job but this was turned down and so he moved on and tried the Lewes job late.

King had been rumoured to other clubs such as Braintree and Lewes's rivals Eastbourne Borough who are in the league above Lewes. Howver King has ended up at Lewes one way or another to the delight of the Lewes fans who are now looking forward to good times at the club again.

Lewes FC have quickly moved to quash rumours that King will put the club in financial misery again by making a statemenat that all candidates were rigerously interviewed and that all of the them would have to be on the same playing budget which they all agreed to. There was also a worry about the cost of Kingys wages but that has been quashed also, King has taken a significant pay cut to take the Lewes job, such is his love for the club.

The selection panel also assesed the level of manager and how each one has done and what their plans would be. They also feel that King will make sure that the club progress and aid the strong youth level of Sussex players that the club are aiming to build a centre for at the club.

King has stated that he is delighted to be back: “I’m really happy to be back. Now I want to build something going forward. It’s going to be an amazing time.”

Steve Ibbitson just wanted to make something clear: “This has been a challenging process and we’ve interviewed some very good people.  Our supporters have been great over three difficult years and they deserve to see us winning more matches as well as playing good football and we think this gives us the best possibility of that." 
"Of course, we will also continue to operate on a sound financial basis, whilst at the same time building for our future, especially through our Youth set up.”

And Alex Leith, a member on the Lewes community board had this to say about the appointment: "We're delighted to welcome Steve King back as manager of Lewes FC, after carefully considering his profile against what was a surprisingly strong list of candidates."
"We chose Steve because we felt that the positive footballing style his teams tend to espouse epitomizes and underpins the forward-thinking community-oriented nature of the club, as it moves forward into a new era.”

King will also be joined by his assistant manager Justin Skinner who also played a vital role with Lewes and plays the same role as assitant manager whever King goes.

It is still rumoured that Tim O'Shea may take over the reigns as Farnborough boss over the weekend, howevr Haylock from Hayes is a more likely option. If Tim O'Shea were to take over it would be a straight swap for the two managers.