DAISY Hill are on the lookout for a new manager after Craig Thomas resigned from the hot seat.

Thomas and the management team have left New Sirs following heavy defeats in their two Hallmark Security League First Division games this week, suffering a 7-1 loss to Alsager Town on Saturday and an 8-0 defeat at Prestwich Heys on Tuesday night.

The departing boss says he has fallen on his sword not as a response to those losses but in order to give the Cutters, fifth bottom in the table, a chance to look at bringing in new blood.

“I’ve been a manager for 11 years and four years in charge of the reserves and Daisy Hill is my home club, so to speak,” he said. “So I’m sorry to be stepping down.

“I said to the club it needs to go one of two ways.

“They need to either generate the income to improve or bring in someone who either has some financial backing or who can bring in lads who are willing to play for him.

“The players I knew we needed to bring in would need paying and, to be honest, we couldn’t even pay them petrol money. All money raised goes towards running costs and it was getting harder and harder to compete at this level. The main problem is that Daisy Hill doesn’t have the group of volunteers needed, if they could it would be easier to generate funds and the club could be self-sufficient.”

The club’s two most senior players, Craig Haynes and Matty Knowles, are taking charge of team affairs for tomorrow’s trip to face Holker Old Boys, a side one place and two points better off than Daisy.

And though he will not be on the sidelines, Thomas – who has continued to try to improve the squad this week – will be rooting for the Daisies, desperately hoping his resignation, along with those of his brother Marc and Brian Hart, will lead to a change of fortunes on the pitch.

“I picked the team for Saturday, there is only really Craig and Matty that could have taken charge,” he said. “The rest of the squad are young lads, there are a lot of 17, 18 and 19-year-olds, perhaps they need that initial shock with us leaving.

“I’ve also registered two new signings this week, James Sloan and Reece Fishwick, no one from the squad is leaving and the players said they wanted us to stay.

“Losing Ashley Stott in the summer was always going to be a factor, when you score 43 goals in a season, like he did last year, you’re always going to be sought after. He was as loyal to us as he could be but he was being offered ridiculous money to go elsewhere and he had to take it.

“But we have got games against just about all of the top teams in the division out of the way so hopefully whoever comes in can turn it around soon.

“Unfortunately they will have no finance to work with so they just need a sugar daddy and they’ll be fine! The sad thing with local football is that it used to be that you always used to play for your local team and for managers that you liked and were keen to play for.

“The money that is coming in now is pushing the smaller clubs out of contention and, I believe, will push them out of existence.

“I hope the club can pick up, I’ll still be around but I’ll just be on the terraces in future, watching matches with a pint.

"I’ll have a few months out, I’ll see how I feel about things after the next few Saturdays but I’ll help the club out in any way I can if they ask me to.

“There are no sour grapes from me whatsoever, I’ll always wish them well.”

Club secretary Bob Naylor told The Bolton News: “Craig and Marc are Daisy Hill through and through, they were born and bred here and you cannot knock the job they and Brian have done.

“Matty and Craig will fill the breach this weekend and we’ll take stock and assess the situation next week.

“There has already been interest in the job and no doubt there will be more calls coming in before the weekend is out.

“Craig and the management team obviously feel it’s time to let someone else have a go but we are thankful to them for keeping us going.

“There is certainly no animosity or ill-feeling, they will always be welcome here.”