PORTHLEVEN Football Club has been rocked by the resignation of manager Kev Richards and his assistants Martin Pennington and Dave Leonard.

After a string of meetings between the management and chairman Derek Heywood, they have parted company after failing to agree on the way ahead for the club.

Kev told the Helston Packet: "I'm absolutely gutted. Porthleven is my club and we had a three-year project in which we were aiming to get into the Premier division.

"I was told one thing and then he did something else. How can anyone work with a chairman like that?

It's embarrassing. He wants to run it like a professional club, but he forgets that it's a village football club."

Richards wanted the club's two teams to work together closely, but felt as though they were becoming two separate teams, as players were reluctant to step into the first team when required.

"I have nothing against Darryl Hunter (second team manager) or the players, but in my opinion you cannot run a football club like that. It could be the mentality of the players these days, but when you sign for a club, you should be available to play for all the teams," he said.

He cited a difficult period in January and February when he had three first team players suspended and a further three on duty with the county youth side.

"I couldn't take the reserve players I wanted, so I had to take lads who usually sit on the bench for the seconds, just to make up the numbers. That shouldn't have happened," he added.

Hunter said: "The first team were always supported this season, but perhaps with players that Kevin needed rather than those that he wanted.

"Some of the lads just want to play football with their mates when they've been working all week and if they stepped up to the first team they wouldn't always have those opportunities," he added.

Paul Parfitt, the recently appointed director of football development, said that the vision for the club has not changed.

He said: "The club has taken steps forward and we aspire to higher levels and that comes from doing things in a professional manner.

"The vision for the first and second team has not changed but Kevin gave the committee an ultimatum which we were uncomfortable with."

Chairman Derek Heywood, who is currently on holiday, said: "We had a meeting with Kevin last week and he left before it concluded. The next conversation we had with him was when he announced his resignation."

Paul added that the committee has been surprised by the "volume and quality" of candidates who have expressed an interest in the job. The new manager will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks.