Rick Andrews quits post as AFC Sudbury manager after being told his budget was being cut by ‘more than 40%’ following promotion
The official line had been that promotion-winning boss Rick Andrews quit AFC Sudbury last week as a result of the increased travelling distances after their FA-enforced Southern League move putting too much pressure on his insurance broker business.
But as SuffolkNews’ interview with Andrews after that league move had shown, that switch out of the Isthmian League in the FA’s National League System (NLS) club allocations for Steps 1-6 for 2023/24 had not appeared to be something that had concerned him.
And we can now reveal, in Andrews’ own words, following an unedited statement he has provided us with, what the real big driving factor was behind his bombshell departure: swingeing budget cuts.
The former Stowmarket Town manager was ‘very disappointed’ to learn his plans for only the club’s second season ever at Step 3 of the non-league pyramid would have to be ripped up if he remained in situ.
This was due to finding out only recently that there was to be a ‘more than 40 per cent’ cut to his playing budget, based on last season’s figure that enabled them to chase for the title in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division before eventually winning the play-offs after finishing runners-up to Hashtag United.
The club’s full-time CEO, Patrick Bell, was was appointed in November to help the club move forward as sustainable business model, has also revealed the women’s team, also promoted to the highest level in their history in Tier 4, will have an increase in their modest budget. He did not confirm figures and claimed he was not aware of what Andrews was told about a percentage.
He explained part of the reason for the substantial cuts was the club being a victim of their own promotion success across both male and female sections and having to incur more costs across both, while having no further income.
He also revealed they are facing an ‘£80,000’ bill next summer to replace their £350,000 all-weather artificial Third Generation (3G) pitch which is used a source of income, and was first installed eight years ago, in the summer of 2015.
Andrews, who is currently out in Cyprus, has released the following statement to better explain the circumstances of his sudden departure after two seasons with the Yellows.
It read: “When myself and Angelo (Harrop, former joint manager) took the job two years ago there was a plan in place to move the club forward.
“In the first year we would work with a limited budget which would allow the club to work on improving the commercial activity and be in a healthier position to kick on in year two which we were very happy to do.
“Obviously the FA Cup run (to the first round proper and BBC televised match at home to Colchester United) was an unexpected welcomed bonus.
“In year two the budget was greatly improved so we could push and try to deliver promotion.
“This was achieved with our play-off success against Heybridge Swifts and we were working hard on putting a team together which I hoped would be in the higher regions of the league.
“Yes, players moved on which we expected and had already planned for.
“On Tuesday I had a discussion with the club where they informed me that they would in fact have to cut last season’s budget by over 40 per cent which obviously was very disappointing on a personal level as this was not the original plan we had in place.
“I was looking forward to the challenge of the new league and building on the momentum the club was gathering.
“However, tough decisions have to be made and whilst personally disappointed I understood the reasons why and support the club’s decision. The club must always come first.
“Regrettably, I advised the club I was not able to continue as first team manager.”
Bell responded to Andrews revealing a 40 per cent-plus figure by saying there were three main areas combining for the need to re-cut their cloth accordingly across a number of areas, especially in the men’s first team, ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
“Well, I don’t know about the percentages but there are three main reasons (for it),” he said.
“The first is that we are fully expecting at the end of the season to have to replace our pitch, as if we don’t have a pitch we don’t have a club.
“We need £80,000 to be left during that period.
“The second is our fantastic achievement of our women which means that they are playing under similar conditions and regulations as Manchester City and Chelsea because they are now up in that echelons of the league. And so they need to be looked after properly.
“And the third one is, I don’t know how big your house is, but our utilities are going to be a lot more expensive than they have been in the past, and I am one person who is not prepared to go into a budget which we can’t do the fundamentals right.
“So we have to look at the variables where we can.”
He also said the club had been guilty of not using its biggest asset, which is something that will need to change.
“We have an amazing academy here and we haven’t been using that to its full extent and putting it at the heart of the club in the way we should be,” he explained.
“So we’ve had plenty of discussions about how to do that, and that’s one of the assets we have that we can use more efficiently to run the whole operation more efficiently.”
Asked why four talented under-18s players that had just graduated from their programme, including captain Jack Ladbrook, had transferred to now lower-league Stowmarket Town in recent weeks, he said: “Well, I find it heart-breaking, but we hadn’t got a first-team manager to have those discussions with people like that and we’re expecting to appoint one this week.”
Andrews’ exit came four days after Ladbrook, Byrne were announced as Stowmarket players. Chilvers’ departure was revealed two days after the manager left.
Bell said they had ‘over a dozen candidates’ come forward since advertising it on their club website five days ago with the process set to close to new ones later today.
Whoever takes on the job will have to adhere to the club’s new ‘realistically ambitious’ three-year plan.
Explained via the club’s website article which appeared over the weekend, Bell was said to be responding to ‘challenges and opportunities caused by double promotion’.
In it he said: “Throughout last season the club has known that promotion for either team would bring as many challenges as it does opportunities. However, the double promotion has compounded the former and opened up the latter.”
AFC’s head of football, Danny Laws, who also oversees the club’s full-time academy managed by Craig Power now, said: “We are treating the exceptional achievements of both first teams as a foundation on which to build sustainable growth over coming years.
“Everyone involved in football at this level knows that getting promoted is great fun, but playing at a higher level as a community club, with no additional income, is another matter.
“In fact, with the cost-of-living crisis and other essential commitments including the forthcoming need to replace our all-important 3G surface, there is even less money available – so we need to find our own way for the whole club to succeed.”
Bell continued: “Both first teams will be run on budgets which for the next year or two will target consolidation, supported by a wider strategy to spread the experience of higher-level football across a wider group of younger players, enabling them to grow together.
“This way, we are on a structured journey towards future promotions in a way which is consistent with our commitment to the community, whilst leveraging our proven ability to develop the best young players in the region.
“This is designed to proliferate the successful development of fans’ favourites such as Joe Grimwood, Ronni Harrison, Liam Bennett, Holly Kennard and Josh Stokes. Not to mention many others now playing elsewhere at similar levels and higher.”
The article went on to say: “The plan also includes steps to expand the structure originally designed to support the smaller club that we were in the past, but which is no longer suitable to support the club’s success, growth and aspirations.
“As part of this, a broader back-office structure is being introduced, and additional policies and procedures implemented to manage increased costs and make us more operationally efficient.”
It went on to again say that Andrews had left ‘citing the additional time and travel commitment required for the Southern Premier League(sic) in addition of his business and family responsibilities’.
It also revealed for the first time that goalkeeper David Hughes, the North Division’s golden gloves (most clean sheets) winner who only joined part-way through the season, is one of the those that cannot commit to the increased travelling along the A14 corridor in the Southern League, as he is based in south Essex.
It went on to say: “The appointment of a new men’s first team manager, ready to embrace the three-year plan and budget, will be announced soon.
“The appointed manager will further develop the model that has already underpinned success for women’s first team with more than half of the players who have achieved promotion two years in succession being AFC Sudbury Academy students and former students.”
AFC Sudbury Women’s first team manager Luke Mallett said within the article: “This is an incredibly exciting time for us to be jumping up a whole level into the highest women’s leagues in the UK, and proving how our relatively small but ambitious club can develop its own home-grown players and punch well above our weight.
“This tightly knit group, with its roots in the academy, plays for each other - thereby making the whole team much bigger and better than the sum ability of its players.”
It ended with Bell calling for patience.
“We invite everyone in the community to understand that the overall picture is one of ‘patient, realistic ambition’, underpinned by our commitment to our values, in order to grow and succeed over the next three years,” he said.
“All football fans and players want success today; however, we need to focus on building success ourselves, with the help of our community, to which the club belongs.
“Everyone is welcome to join us on this three year adventure – as spectators at our men’s and women’s first team matches, as volunteers keeping the show on the road, as families bringing children to enjoy all the physical health and mental wellbeing benefits, as those joining our new disability football group, and as businesses making a commitment to their town, their workforce and their customers by investing in us and our overriding vision to help make Sudbury a great place to live, work and thrive.”
