Brett Marshall calls time on football management after leaving Staveley

Marshall, 52, took charge of the club in 2015 and managed 266 league games, but has opted to step down after an inconsistent start to the 2021/22 season.

Chairman Terry Damms has said in a statement that he reluctantly accepted Marshall’s resignation.

But for Marshall, his time in non-league football is, by his own admission, now to come to an end after a successful career on the sidelines.

Damms paid a glittering tribute to Marshall on the club’s official website.

He said: “I am devastated by his resignation but I will look back at his time here and say it has been an absolute pleasure to see him manage with passion, enthusiasm and desire to see only success for the club and players in front of anything for himself.

"[He is] a totally and unselfish and unique bloke who will be sadly missed. I know to try and replace Brett with the same ethos and qualities will prove to be an arduous and seemingly impossible task.”

Marshall himself says that he felt the time had come to step away from the game after nearly 20 years in football management.

He said: “The flame has gone out for me really – it’s not just to do with this season at Staveley or the results, it’s more that I feel it’s just not right for me any more.

"We’ve been a bit inconsistent which is of course frustrating but I think I struggle to have as much of a connection with the players as I used to, what with me being in my early fifties and most of them being in their teens and early twenties.

“That tells me a story and perhaps makes it a bit harder to enjoy it as much and I think it probably needs a fresh eye to oversee things.

"I just feel what I could get out of players in the past, I can’t get anymore. It’s also harder to recruit like I usually do, in terms of picking out players from lower levels, because when I look at the division below, for example, 80 per cent of the best players have already been with us.

"It means the pool is getting ever smaller to help us improve.

"The club aren’t far off the top six but we’ve had so many senior players unavailable it’s made it really hard this year.

"Inconsistency is not something I put myself alongside. The way I approach things is the same and I give all I’ve got and pride myself on trying to be the hardest worker at any club.”

Marshall added that he now wants to put his family first after so long devoting his weekends and midweek nights to training and matches.

"That’s me done with football now. My only regret in the last 20 years is that I’ve always put the game first ahead of anything else, and I feel it’s now time to spend more time with my family,” he said.

"I’ve had a brilliant 20 years in management, surrounding myself with some amazing memories made. I’ve got a 47 per cent win rate in that time so that tells you we’ve had some good memories.

"And I’ve finished at a brilliant club, run by a man in Terry Damms who is everything a chairman should be and I hope he and the club will be rewarded by the progress his, and other people’s, hard work deserves.

"I thank everyone I’ve ever worked with for everything, the memories will stay with me for life.”