Holleran receives board’s backing to stay on at Brakes

Saturday’s 2-2 draw with North Ferriby combined with wins for Stalybridge Celtic and Brackley condemned Brakes to the drop for the first time since their rebirth.

It also led to speculation that Holleran might step down from his post ahead of Saturday’s final Conference North fixture of the season at Boston.

Holleran initially intimated that he would let the dust settle before making a decision on his future.

However, after reassuring the board in midweek that he had the desire to continue in his role, Holleran has been given their backing to continue as manager.

Chairman Jim Scott said: “There were two aspects to Paul remaining in charge. Firstly that the board of directors had confidence that he was still the right man for the job and secondly that Paul wanted to continue and had the hunger for doing so.

“Following discussions with Paul it became clear that whilst he was hugely disappointed at the club’s relegation he still retained the passion and desire to want to take the club forward.

“We reviewed the season as a whole and what lessons could be learned from the campaign and discussed options on the way ahead.

“Those talks centred on budget, staff and players, training facilities and style of play.

“Once those discussions had been held the board were unanimous in our decision that he remained the right man for the job. “We believe that he has done an excellent job for the club over five-plus years with the highlight being promotion as Southern League Premier Division champions. He significantly over performed in budget terms in achieving that.

“We also took account that he retains full support within the dressing room.

“The club has been founded on the bedrock of stability and we firmly believe that by retaining Paul we give ourselves the best chance moving forward.”

Three points from a possible 30 confirmed the first relegation of Holleran’s career, both as player and manager, and he was in no mood to sugarcoat the loss of form, describing the last two months as “nothing short of a disaster”.

However, he did not appear to be hoisting up the white flag when speaking to the Leamington Courier on Monday.

“From my point of view, there are two things to consider. What the board of Leamington think and what the main support group think,” said Holleran.

“Do I want to leave Leamington on the back of a relegation?

“We’ve made great strides here.”