STEVE RUSH'S decision to resign as Clitheroe chairman was fuelled by his desire to see the North West Counties first division side in the UniBond League.

Rush spent eight years at the helm at Shawbridge but rocked the club on Saturday evening, following the side's 1-0 win over Maine Road, by announcing his decision to quit.

The self-employed mortgage advisor, who was born and bred in the Ribble Valley town, had helped rebuild the club from one on the brink of bankruptcy at the beginning of the 1990s to one of the strongest in the North West Counties League.

Vice chairman John Robinson has taken temporary charge at the club. Rush said work commitments - he recently started his own business - had forced his hand.

"It was just work commitments," he said. "I have my own business now. I am a mortgage broker and I am in partnership and that is the main reason I have had to quit."

Rush, whose dream was to take Clitheroe into the UniBond League, said his day job had become too demanding and he described his decision to quit as 'one of the worst I have had to make'.

"It was like juggling eggs, to do the things required for Clitheroe.

"The main thing has to be work, especially when you are in partnership because you don't just have yourself to think of. You have somebody else to consider.

"I was involved at Clitheroe for eight years as chairman, this was my eighth season and it was probably one of the worst decisions I have had to make."

Rush has been involved with the Blues on and off for decades. He moved to Blackpool in the early 1990s and on his return he took the reigns at Shawbridge.

"I'd played at Clitheroe, I'd managed them, apart from sweeping up I think I had done every job," he said.

"And when I came back from Blackpool I took over as chairman."

Many non-League chairmen say the reason they took took the job was because 'nobody else wanted to do it' but Rush says that wasn't the case with him.

"I knew exactly what the job entailed and I knew what I was taking on.

"I always tried to run the club as a business but I just didn't have enough time to devote to it.

"I have had my own business for 18 months now. There wasn't anything specifically that happened over the past few weeks, it was a culmination of things.

"In my job I have to see a lot of my clients in the evenings so we weren't having meetings at the club as often as I would have liked.

"It would have been easy for me to just carry on and try and get away with it but you can't do that."

It had become clear to Rush over the past few months that the most important thing a chairman needs to provide is time - that is, if he can't provide bags of money!

"You could be looking at putting in 12 to 15 hours per week although it is difficult to say exactly how much time it takes up."

Over the past eight years, Rush has seen more highs than lows and he would say the highlight would be the trip to Wembley in the FA Vase, despite losing the final 3-0 against Brigg Town.

"When I came here the club was still recovering from debts left from the 1980s. We have managed to move that forward, we have a new stand, new changing rooms, we went to Wembley, finished runners-up in the league twice, won the floodlit trophy.

"I would say Wembley was the highlight, it was fantastic."

And now the club is challenging for a place in the UniBond League.

The Blues have one of the strongest sides in the division and, although promotion looks out of the question for this season, they will be looking to win the title next year.

But for that to happen there needs to be more dedication behind the scenes.

"The club is in a position now where it can move on to the next level but it got to the stage where I realised that if the club was going to go there it would need someone who could put more hours in than I could.

"I haven't got that time and I don't want the club to stagnate because then what tends to happen is you start going backwards.

"The club needs someone who can commit more time.

"We are set up behind the scenes and know we just need someone to put in more time and there's no reason why they can't get into the UniBond.

"There is nobody putting money into the club so it does mean a struggle but it is not an impossibility. If someone can find the time you can raise the money.

"The facilities are good enough for the UniBond League and the team is good enough for the UniBond League."

Now it just needs someone brave enough to take control of it.