Having my budget taken away from me made it very difficult for me, says Glenn Barlow

GLENN BARLOW has explained the reasons behind his departure as the manager of Rochester United today.



Barlow, 38, was in charge of the Rede Court Road outfit for just one season and finished their inaugural Kent Hurlimann Football League campaign in the bottom five with 38 points from 32 games.

Barlow took over from Matt Hume, who guided the club to the inaugural Kent Invicta League championship in April 2012, under their former name of Bly Spartans.

The goalscoring form of striker Stuart Zanone was instrumental to the club’s impressive start to life in the Kent League, but after scoring 21 goals, Thamesmead Town made a successful approach in November to bring him to Bayliss Avenue.

Rochester United were sitting in third-place at the time of Zanone’s departure, having collected 22 points from 13 games, ten points behind the leaders Erith & Belvedere, who went on to clinch the title and promotion to the Ryman League Division One North, along with runners-up VCD Athletic.

The powerful striker, who has also previously played Ryman League football for Harlow Town and Waltham Abbey, scored a further 26 goals to help Keith McMahon’s side clinch promotion to the Ryman Premier League after the club clinched play-off wins over Witham Town and Maldon & Tiptree, after the Mead defied all the odds to finish in third-place in the Ryman League Division One North.

Barlow said: “I have decided to resign as manager of Rochester United.

“I felt that with the ambition I have as a manager, was not going in the same direction as Rochester’s.

“My budget was taken away from me in the first week of March, which made it very difficult for me to continue what I had set out to achieve at the club, which was to finish in the top six.

“After seeing us start the season the way we did, losing Stuart Zanone was a key factor to our success but without him we managed 13 points out of 30.  Then when the budget was taken I had no funds to strengthen when I needed to, which then saw us losing eight consecutive games before winning at Beckenham with only one game to go.

“That run was very hard to deal with and tested my commitment to the club.”

Barlow, who said he wants to stay in football management, added: “I hate to lose and I wanted to do the best I could for the lads to try to turn things around at the club but my hands were tied.

“It would have been far too easy for me to walk when this was happening.”

The club are waiting to hear from The Football Association whether they will retain their Kent League status or be demoted to the Kent Invicta League due to ground-grading issues.

Barlow added: “I would like to wish the club the best for the future.  It’s a case of still waiting on the League for the grading to be accepted, that’s as much as I know.”

Visit Rochester United’s website: www.rochesterunited.co.uk