Paul Jefcoate stands down as Ramsgate chairman after Tim Dixon's controversial departure

RAMSGATE chairman Paul Jefcoate has stood down from his role today after sacking manager Tim Dixon and his assistant Darren Beale on Saturday.

The management pair were shown the door by the club despite beating Tooting & Mitcham United 2-1 at Southwood Stadium – which brought outrage from supporters and players alike.

Messages of support for the axed pair were posted on social networking site Twitter by players and fans posted their disgust on the club’s fans forum.

Mr Jefcoate – who was installed as chairman after replacing his predessor Richard Lawson, who stood down as chairman in August 2013 after 25 years at the helm - has waited until this morning to issue an official club statement, which was posted on the fans’ message board.

He said: “On Saturday I had the difficult task of discussing with Tim and Darren their dismissal at which point they conveyed the fact that they were looking to stand down anyway due to a lack of confidence in the board as well as some gathering fans comments on their management and tactics.

“A board meeting had been convened earlier in the day when it was decided that a caretaker manager would be put in place and the post advertised.

“The caretaker managers were to be Jim and Danny Ward with a view that they would also be interviewed along with all the other applicants before a decision would be made.

“Since I have stepped into the role of chairman I have worked non-stop to try and get the club heading in the right direction and I know that there has been some questionable decisions along the way and judging by some of the vitriol on the internet. This is the worst yet.

“Unfortunately some difficult decisions have to be made and sometimes fairly quickly and not always for the reasons that you might expect.

“There are difficult days ahead but the remainder of the board and Richard (Lawson) will put it right.  However, they need all you “keyboard warriors” to actually support the club and the players which you seem not to be doing at present by your actions and intentions.

“Please be sure that any of my decisions have been made purely for the betterment of the club (in my opinion) and given that the board and I feel that they were not correct, I am standing down with immediate effect.”

The Ward brothers will be back in charge for Tuesday night’s home game against relegation threatened Whitstable Town.

The Rams are in eighth-place in the Ryman League Division One South table with 47 points from 32 games.

They remain nine points adrift of fifth-place, currently occupied by Hastings United.

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk