MARK Patterson says he quit Leigh RMI on Saturday, not because his side had suffered another humiliating defeat, but because of the pressures he faced from behind the scenes at the struggling Conference club.

The manager's future had been under threat over the past month after his side picked up just two points from their last nine games, but although he quit only a couple of hours after Barnet had romped to a 4-1 victory, Patterson says the outcome of the game was not the reason behind his surprise decision.

"I have resigned from the job because of what has gone on behind the scenes," he admitted. "The politics have ground me down a bit."

Patterson joined RMI last season as assistant manager and took charge when Steve Waywell quit in January, steering them to safety with a victory on the last day of the season.

The former Bolton Wanderers and Bury battling midfielder, who took on the added responsibility of commercial manager in the summer, added: "I have brought a few quid into the club on the commercial side and the managing side could possibly have suffered a little bit. It is a thankless task when you are doing so many things on your own.

Smallest budgets

"Managing RMI is the most difficult job in the Conference because I had one of the smallest budgets and we share the ground with the rugby club, who have not paid their way over the years, which makes things even harder. I am not blaming anybody for that; I just know that is what I inherited. It does distract you from the job in hand.

"I had a squad which contains better players than eight months ago. I have said all along it will take time to turn things around. I kept them up last season and this season I have had two months to change things around. It will not happen overnight. Because of the increase in money and full-time squads in the Conference I knew we had to improve the squad and had to do that on a smaller budget than last season.

"Your hands are tied and you can only do a job under those circumstances for so long. I am not knocking the majority of people of Leigh associated with the football club. The club is a nice club run by, in the majority, nice people, but there are one or two people there who did not want to know what I was trying to achieve. I am not prepared to lower my standards. I have tried to fight as hard as I can for nine months to keep them as high as I can and have done it with my heart on my sleeve and have sometimes upset some people. It comes to a stage when you think to yourself 'why I am carrying on'.

"There has not been one match when I have not walked off at full-time without a headache. That is my passion and it might be my weakness as well. I would have loved to have seen one or two more people at the club with my passion and the more I think about it the more I am disappointed.

"I am not prepared to carry on working for a football team that is not run to Conference standards. They deserve to be there because the football team have earned it, but the other part of it, which is probably just as important, has never come up to Conference standards and that is because they do not get the support, because they are playing in a rugby town, and are constantly bickering with the rugby people. They need someone to inject a substantial amount of money into the club and that has not happened recently."

Undiminished

As to his future Patterson's ambition is undiminished: "I have proved over the last two and half years that I can be successful with football clubs. It has been a fantastic experience but I have served my time and now would like to have a crack with a team that has got genuine ambition. A team that wants to go places not a team that is fighting to survive."

Assistant manager Phil Starbuck will take temporary charge of first team matters. Although Starbuck will be in the running for the full-time post after having managerial experience with Unibond League side Hucknall Town, a permanent replacement is not likely to be announced for at least 10 days.

"We have to thank Mark for the dedication he has shown us and I have to say his resignation was accepted with great reluctance", said chairman Bill Taylor.