Marc Benterman on why he resigned as Haverhill Rovers manager after agreeing new contract
Marc Benterman has lifted the lid on why he has left his managerial role at Thurlow Nunn League Haverhill Rovers – just days after agreeing to a new contract.
In a surprise move, the west Suffolk club revealed yesterday they had ‘accepted the resignation’ of the former Debenham LC and Halstead Town manager who had been appointed on October 25 with the side without a win in their opening 14 Premier Division matches.
It came after Benterman had said after the club’s relegation was confirmed ahead of the penultimate weekend of the season he was ‘100 per cent committed to next year’ and ‘excited’ to see what they could achieve in the First Division North.
But in a statement released exclusively to SuffolkNews and the Haverhill Echo following our story of his departure, Benterman revealed his resignation came amid testing circumstances behind the scenes at the New Croft club.
His claim that almost all of the club’s committee have left their first-team roles, including long-standing club volunteer Peter Betts and highly regarded secretary Barbara Jones, as well as former chairman and caretaker manager Ali Shulver, has been confirmed to us by chairman Tony Jordan.
The latter revealed the committee has gone down from operating with eight people at the start of last season to just two, including himself, now, with the other being Ben Holbrook, who was previously without a designated role.
But the Rovers chief says insinuations that current club officials had been speaking to prospective new managers after offering him a new contract is ‘not strictly true’. He elaborated on this to say that prospective new committee members they had approached could have spoken about their wishes for a new manager going forward, or even approached one themselves, which would be out of his control.
Benterman also insinuated the goalposts on his playing budget had been moved which may be set to see players he had recruited for their voyage into Step 6 not being kept on in favour of blooding youngsters from the under-18s.
Jordan admitted the club has had to realign itself in preparation for Step 6 football having ‘substantially increased’ the playing budget at the turn of the year in a bid to give to give Benterman the best chance to keep them up.
Rovers finished the campaign second from bottom and six points adrift of safety with 30 points from his 24 games in charge to give him a 1.25 points per game average, but ultimately ending a 16 year stay at Step 5 of the non-league pyramid.
Benterman’s statement on his departure read: "Firstly I would like to thank Ali (Shulver), Pete (Betts), Barbara (Jones) and Steve (Esdale).
"Losing Ali, Pete and Barbara off the committee was massive and whatever people's opinions are of these guys they work extremely hard in this club and I can only talk highly of these individuals whilst I have been here. Opinions are opinions after all."
He continued: "The club is going through a change off the pitch and a new direction with a new committee.
"I was offered a contract 14 days ago with talks of it being long term. I was delighted to agree to it.
"Unfortunately things change in football and I was told there wouldn't be an active playing budget next season and likely we would have an under-18s side as our first team.
"This didn't faze me at all and I still agreed to stay and sign my contract.
"Unfortunately football works very differently and after having rumours confirmed that the club was actively talking to other parties I decided that I couldn't stand around and allow this to happen.
"The players who agreed to stay and the fans deserved better, but I felt also I deserved better than that.
"I have nothing but appreciation and love for the fans and to have you all in the bar after the last game asked me to stay - I am saddened this has happened but the messages I have received have really been wonderful.
"I wish everyone at Rovers all the best in the future."
In response to being read the statement, Jordan wished to put on record his appreciation for ‘the amazing job’ Benterman did.
“We are really grateful to him and wish him the best going forward,” he said.
On speaking to ‘other parties’ he said it was solely focused on ‘bolstering our committee’.
He added: “Yes, the topic of management and sponsorship came into those conversations but the focus was on joining the committe.”
He said if those people had taken those conversations to other managers “I can see why Mark feels his nose has been put out of joint”.
He added: “I have heard I have appointed about four or five managers in the past few weeks.
“The rumour-mill has unsettled people but there is not a lot of truth in the rumours I have heard.”
Jordan also addressed the comittee members leaving by saying: “There are some decisions going on behind the scenes that I cannot elaborate too much on at the minute.
“People who come in with new ideas do not always align with people who are already there and it can be unnerving for everyone.
“Especially being a volunteer, if you cannot feel you are totally dedicated to be there you cannot contunue.
“It is really sad and I have not enjoyed seeing these people who have been involved in the football club for many, manay years leave.”
He said he will continue to do what he thinks is necessary to protect the club’s 130 years of history and is actively encouraging new people to get involved and help Rovers move forward again.
Anyone who is interested in speaking to him should reach out to him via filling in the contact details section on the club’s website.
