Hastings United shock: Elphick resigns as boss

Eleven days after leading the Us to an eighth-place finish in the Isthmian premier – missing a play-off place by four points in their first season after promotion from the south east division – Elphick has left.

The club issued the sollowing statement: “Hastings United Football Club can confirm we have received the resignation of Men’s First Team Manager Gary Elphick and Assistant Manager Jon Meeney, which has been accepted.

“The duo took over the reins in November 2021 and guided the Us to the Isthmian South East Championship followed by an 8th placed finish in the Isthmian Premier this season. All at the club would like to thank the pair for their services and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

“The club begin a search for a new manager and applicants can email [email protected] to register their interest. The deadline closes Friday 12 May.”

The club have had long-standing problems with the council over their hoped-for move to a new stadium at Tilekiln – and have warned huge sums of money need to be spent on The Pilot Field if they are forced to stay there.

Last week Elphick told us he needed to know about the direction the club was going in before he could start to plan for next season.

United chairman and CEO Billy Wood said he was very sorry to get Elphick and Meeney go.

"Gary and I get on like a house on fire and will remain friends,” said Wood. “I think he just feels now is the time to go. It’s a big loss for us.”

Wood said when Chris Agutter left in November 2021, in Elphick, who was already at the club as a player, he had a ready-made replacement – but he did not think that was the case this time.

But he said: “In the half-hour after we put this news out, I had eight people contacting me expressing interest. So I don’t think we’ll be short of candidates, but we will need to work through applications and make sure we get the right person.”

Wood said he was not disappointed with where Hastings did finish the league season – but he was a little downbeat over where they didn’t finish.

Four more points would have got them into the play-offs a year after coming into the division as Isthmian south east champions, a title Elphick, Jon Meeney and Andrew Brown led the side to after taking over from Agutter in the first half of that campaign.

Wood said: “It’s the knowledge that we could have been in the play-offs if a few things had gone differently. I feel our budget justified us being in or around the play-offs.

"We made some good signings – Alex Brefo and Joe Gbode were revelations – but losing Tom Chalmers to long-term injury was a huge blowWe lost a creative cutting edge.

"But if you take the emotion out of it we’ve had our best finish in over 20 years and you can’t sniff at that. But we’re a club who aim high and we will always want more.”

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