Sacked boss Darren Jarvis has issued a strongly-worded statement to refute claims made by Holbeach United that he was putting the club’s financial wellbeing in jeopardy.
The former Tigers chief, who was relieved of his duties on Wednesday night despite guiding them to second in the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division and the last eight of the Knockout Cup, does accept that he was £38-per week over his agreed budget.
He’s adamant that the club told him such a small overspend was acceptable, having cut the original budget by 20 per cent at the start of the season. Jarvis also insists that he was in the process of whittling down his squad to ensure he was under-budget and added that he was never really spoken to about his perceived over spending.
The ex-Peterborough Northern Star and Blackstones chief, axed 24 hours after beating Deeping Rangers 3-1, claims to have been informed of his departure by phone and also denies the club’s suggestion that he refused to meet chairman Dave Dougill to discuss his position.
And, in an explosive claim, Jarvis implies that he was undermined by some of his staff – pointing the finger at his number two Tom Roberts, who he says offered his services to another UCL Premier Division club earlier this season.
Here’s his verdict in full (click here for Holbeach’s initial statement):
“Firstly, I’d like to thank the Holbeach United supporters for their support over the past ten or so months that I was manager – and I’m extremely proud that I hopefully gave them something to cheer about.
“I believe I leave the club in a fantastic position, currently second in the league, in the quarter finals of the League Cup and approximately £10,000 better off due to an FA Cup run that was enjoyed by all. But more about finances later.
“I expect the club to challenge for the league title and hopefully win the League Cup. These were certainly my expectations two days ago, so I’m sure their targets won’t have changed. But it’s fair to say that I’m happy with what I achieved in half a season.
“Now, I really didn’t want to – and didn’t intend to – release an in-depth statement or my version of events, etc. But the recently released Holbeach United club statement has left me with no alternative.
“I feel that there are mistruths within their statement, and it ‘suggests’ a very different story to the actual one in reality. And it’s that reason alone I have decided that I need to.
“I have refrained from venting my frustrations and anger on social media (been there, got the t-shirt, wish I hadn’t) and I was very happy to oversee a relatively amicable separating of ways, but the feeling clearly wasn’t mutual.
“Onto the main aspects, though. After the Deeping victory (we were the first team to win there in the league this season), it is correct that chairman Dave Dougill asked me for a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss one or two issues.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t make Thursday, as I’d promised two young daughters that we’d be visiting a certain Mr Claus that evening – and after days of anticipation and excitement I didn’t want to let them down. I did, however, offer to meet during the daytime of Thursday, but that offer was not taken up.
“I also offered to meet with the Chairman on Wednesday evening, but I was advised that he would need to see if another committee person he wanted present could make it – but he would let me know. The next contact I had was a phone call on Wednesday evening from the chairman explaining that I was to be “let go” after he’d spoken to two other committee members on the phone.
“But to say that patience had ran out because I declined a meeting is entirely misleading and untrue.
“Now the overspend that has been mentioned. It might be perceived that the budget must have been hundreds of pounds over budget each week by the way it has been described? Some facts for you; averaged out from the start of the season, it is £38 per week over budget.
“I’m not sure this constitutes the club’s ‘future financial stability’ would or could be in doubt, or the ‘club’s financial wellbeing’ could be in danger? I guess that is a matter of opinion.
“What I do know is that this season’s squad was costing less than half of last season’s squad at times. But I’m accused of the above. Last season, I was approached by Holbeach United to take over as manager, I didn’t apply for the position. I accepted the challenge.
“I was asked to complete the season on a budget of approximately a third of what the team had been costing, I did that. The club were very grateful.
“When we discussed and planned this season, it was explained that the budget would probably be £x per week. It was then explained that it would probably be 10 per cent less, before finally being confirmed that it would be 20 per cent less than the initial planned figure. But, and I quote ‘it’s fine if you’re £40 or £50 over budget, but not hundreds of pounds, we can’t have that again’.
“Er, hello? See my overspend!
“Not once did the committee formally sit me down to address this extravagant overspend. I had a couple of passing comments, hence I acted in reducing the playing squad numbers and was about to fine tune the squad. Simple. Except I wasn’t given this chance.
“Had the club said we need to achieve ‘x’ I would have achieved it. But there was never any absolute clear direction or instruction. It’s very convenient for the club to remove me from position, talk about overspending, and then reduce the budget to mask the real issues – those being that the club has not received significant income from sponsors that had been promised.
“I was continually undermined by people at the club. Unfortunately, I’m not a yes man who will sit there like a good boy and do exactly what he’s told, I hope they find that man – if they haven’t already.
“I would like to thank my physio Harry Ralph (whom I brought to the club) and my coach Andrew Tidswell for their full support and loyalty. Both have been outstanding.
“I wish Tom Roberts (my assistant whom I also brought to the club) all the best for the future, be it managing Holbeach United or another club. Although, while still being my number two, another UCL club chairman (unfair for me to name the club) has himself told me that Tom contacted a committee member of that club offering his services and that of a former UCL manager only a couple of weeks ago.
“To conclude, I really didn’t want to write all of the above. But felt I had no option to after Holbeach United issued their version of events.”
