AFC Sudbury announce surprise departure of promotion-winning manager Rick Andrews following Southern League switch while Sak Hassan also departs

AFC Sudbury have announced the shock departure of their promotion-winning manager Rick Andrews this afternoon while Somalian international midfielder has also posted of his exit.

Club chairman Andrew Long has released a statement via the club’s website that indicates that Andrews’ resignation came as a result of the club’s switch to the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central and its increase in travelling time putting pressure on his work commitments.

It read: “It is with significant regret that we can announce that Rick Andrews has decided to step down from his position as men’s first-team manager at AFC Sudbury.

“Following our promotion to Step 3 and our ultimately being placed into the Southern Premier League, Rick has understandably reached the decision that his business and personal commitments are too great for him to be able to fulfil the role in the way that he would like.

“AFC Sudbury would like to record our huge debt of gratitude for the two years that Rick has devoted to this club, and for the success on and off the field that those efforts have generated. He and his family will always be welcome at AFC Sudbury at anytime.

“A further announcement will follow shortly regarding future men’s first-team arrangements for the coming season.”

Former Stowmarket Town promotion-winning boss Andrews had been appointed at Sudbury as part of a joint management team with Angelo Harrop in the summer of 2021.

Last summer saw Harrop leave for higher-league Braintree Town following a seventh-placed finish.

Although listed as the sole manager in 2022/23, Andrews had experienced former managers Dale Brooks and Ricky Cornish alongside him. No announcement has yet been made on their futures with former Falkirk boss and Norwich City head of academy coaching Brooks his assistant while Cornish had left his role as manager of Mildenhall Town ahead of joining Sudbury as first-team coach.

After winning the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division Play-Offs, the Yellows’ move across into the Southern League ahead of their return to Step 3 of the non-league pyramid, announced via the recent FA National League System allocations, means they are facing seven more than 300-plus mile round trips in 2023/24.

The south Suffolk club is set to travel as far away as Welsh border county Shropshire to take on AFC Telford in a 352 mile round trip. Mikleover, in Debryshire (314) and Stourbidge (328), Bromsgrove Sporting (310), Redditch United (306), Alvechurch (304) and Halesowen Town (302) in the West Midlands, are the other six of the seven 300-plus travelling distances.

At the time of the news breaking though, Andrews had given a largely positive response, stressing remaining in the Isthmian League would not have been much different and that it was time to ‘get on with it’.

“I’m not surprised as geographically we just fall in that catchment area,” he had said of the mainly Midlands-drawn division.

“We don’t fit into either, to be honest, so you’re in the laps of the gods.

“Had we gone into the other league there was some hefty trips in there, dealing with the M25, the Dartford Tunnel and going into London. So I don’t think to be honest there’s much between the two.

“Obviously on the plus side the roads have been improved going that way to your Birmingham games with the Huntingdon bypass.

“But look, the higher you go the more traveling you do and it goes hand in hand, so we just have to get on with it.”

On the potential impact to his recruitment plans, of both keeping hold of existing players and making moves for idetified targets, he was also far from fretting.

“Look, that all comes with the territory again and it’s not really where the club’s based, it’s where the players are based,” he had said.

“If you have a few players in Essex, for argument’s sake, who live Brentwood way then a lot of the travelling in that other league is better for them.

“All you do is just switch around. Other clubs need them, and Leiston have been doing it for years.

“People keep focusing on the away games but half your games are at home and then you’ve got Needham and Leiston close by. I think there’s five or six teams within 60 miles.”

He added: “You’re always going to have a turnover of players but obviously we’d like to keep the nucleus of the squad together. We’ll see how that materialises in the coming weeks.”

George Cocklin and Harrison Chatting both left within a week of the announcement, while fellow midfielder Sak Hassan, who earned his first international cap for Somalia in his first season at the club in 2021/22, has also revealed his departure on Twitter today.

Put out over two posts, it read: “@AFCSudbury it’s been a absolute playing for you guys. Unfortunately my time at the club has come to a end. I wanna thank everyone involved in the club from the volunteers to the media team to the management and my team-mates and a big thank you to the fans.

“The love the fans showed me at this club is one I will never forget so thank you once again @AFCSudbury. I wish you all the best in the future.

“Come on the yellows 💛💙.”