Just weeks after achieving a second successive promotion, Pinchbeck United have been rocked by uncertainty.
Assistant manager Allan Ross, who has played a key role in the rise to the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division, has left the club and there are question marks over manager Ian Dunn’s future.
Ross has called for the community to back the Knights and more volunteers help support them behind the scenes.
The pair have been at the helm together for three hugely successful years.
They’ve just concluded their first ever season in the UCL by winning Division One by a huge 11 points and on a 28-game winning run that stretches back to last October.
But with the club only having two volunteers running it and no home to call its own, Ross fears he may have taken the club as far as he can.
Ross says the management duo helped out with many other jobs at the club and that had left the pair “exhausted”.
“I feel we’ve taken Pinchbeck as far as we could,” he said. “No-one has fallen out and it’s great I’ve left still friends with everyone at the club.
“It wouldn’t be financially viable for Pinchbeck to compete at the top in the UCL Premier Division next season.
“I’m gutted as I won’t be able to walk them out in the division, but I’m proud of being part of the journey to get the club there.
“In some ways, what we’ve achieved at Pinchbeck has been a miracle.
“It’s a massive thing we’ve been able to take the club up two divisions.
“I feel we’ve got everything we deserved and a lot of hard work has gone into the last three years.
“The club’s run by two volunteers; the chairman and one of the players’ dads.
“I think that’s one of the things for me and Ian, we’re exhausted.
“Since November it’s been a case of get this season done and then it will be time for fresh impetus.
“It’s been a three season project to get the club to this level that should have been a six season one.
“I’m gutted to leave but I don’t feel guilty with the success we have had.
“The club needs more local people and businesses to get behind them and get involved with them.
“Local football seems to be dying, but with Pinchbeck we’ve had great support from the media and we’ve good attendances to watch a fantastic squad of players.
“Now more people need to get involved.”
Ross himself says he’s looking for new challenges within football but has yet to apply for any roles, nor has he been contacted about any.
He continued: “I’m looking for a new challenge but it’s difficult from what you hear on the grapevine as there’s not many clubs with the ambition that Pinchbeck had.
“I’d like to carry on the success we’ve had at Pinchbeck and try to grow a club more as a project again.
“Managers are the same as players. We’re ambitious and want to make steps up.”
Manager Dunn has also recently called for more volunteers at the club and was unavailable for comment at the time the article went to press.
