HELLENIC LEAGUE: McNally explains Shrivenham departure (From Swindon Advertiser)

HELLENIC LEAGUE: McNally explains Shrivenham departure

6:00am Friday 26th October 2012 in Sport By Ned Payne

MICHAEL McNally left his role as Shrivenham manager because he felt he could not get his message across to the players.

The former Lambourn Sports chief quit as boss at the Rec on Sunday, just 18 games into the 2012/13 season.

Shrivenham endured a wretched run in the closing weeks of McNally’s tenure, winning just one of his last seven games in charge, with the last straw being the 8-0 home defeat to Witney in the Hellenic Premier on Saturday.

And McNally has now explained the reasons why he chose to call it a day less than 24 hours after that loss.

“I had a good understanding with the players, but I didn’t seem to get the basics across to them,” he said.

“It didn’t help when on a few away games players let me down half an hour before kick-off and it just all builds up.

“I always give 120 per cent in football and I just don’t think the majority were doing that.

“You have to do the basics like work hard and be committed, and if you don’t then you’re struggling.

“Players just aren’t committed like they were 10 or 15 years ago. Lads just want to play on a Saturday but they don’t want to train or do a midweek game.”

Despite his disappointment at the way matters panned out in his second job in management, McNally insists he has no hard feelings towards the club.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Shrivenham and think they will stay up because of the games they have in hand,” he said.

“To be fair the players responded very well to the social events we organised and I think I must have had respect for me, because I had a lot of texts saying thank you (after he left).

“I leave with my head held high.”

McNally intends to have a short break from football for now, but he is keen to return in 2013 if a job becomes available.

“I’ll probably have a break out of it,” he said. “But hopefully I can get back into it in the new year.”

Shrivenham chairman Neil Sutton registered his thanks to McNally for his efforts at the Rec since he was handed the job in May.

Sutton said: “I’d like to say thanks to Michael for everything he’s done and all the hard work he put in. It was a shame he had to leave.”