Colne FC’s promotion-winning boss Steve Cunningham has stood down to spend more time with his young family during the coronavirus crisis.
The departure of Cunningham from the Northern Premier League‘s Reds was announced on Thursday with football in lockdown and any starting date for next season in doubt.
Cunningham, pictured, took the club into the NPL as North West Counties Football League champions in 2014 after succeeding Nigel Coates at Holt House in November 2013.
He’d continued to enjoy great success at a club he’d once played for and Colne chairman Ryan Haigh paid tribute to his efforts in a club statement.
Steve Cunningham has today resigned as manager.
Steve, who had been the clubs manager for the past 6 seasons, is stepping down to take a break from football and spend more time with his young family.
We would like to place on record our sincere gratitude to Steve.
Full story:
— Colne F.C. (@Colne_FC) April 16, 2020
Haigh said: “Steve was not just my manager, he is also my friend. He leaves with the best wishes of everyone connected with the club. The work rate and time he committed to the club will be hard to replace.
“He was probably one of the longest serving managers across this level of the football pyramid and his family were big part of the Football Club as spectators, colleagues and friends. Their personalities and enthusiasm for the club has always remained un-wavered and hopefully it won’t be long before we see each other again.”
“I would like to place on record my sincere gratitude to Steve for all of his hard work, commitment, determination and inarguable success as manager of this great football club and I wish him well in the future.
“During his time in charge we have achieved so much and so many of his greatest moments as manager will live long in the memory of all Colne fans fortunate to have seen and enjoyed them. Steve’s achievements ensure that he is forever embedded in the history of Colne F.C.”
When the season was officially terminated, Cunningham believed the club would’ve faced the threat of extinction but for the abandoned season’s money-spinning cup runs in the FA Cup and FA Trophy.
He told the Burnley Express: “The prize money from the FA Cup and FA Trophy run has probably kept the club alive. We wanted to gain promotion, but on the back of the cup success it put us in a great position where the club hasn’t committed too much money considering it took more than £50,000.
“We haven’t spent that yet on our budget throughout the year so that’s probably going to keep the club safe. I don’t think people realise how much that pot will have saved us. We took in a lot of money, which has probably saved the club.
“It was a massive achievement for the players to get that far, but in a year or two people will be looking back and saying ‘that cup run saved the football club’.”
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper from this weekend for the latest news on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on football after Step 3 & 4 sponsors BetVictor announced they were terminating their title sponsorship and the National League told clubs they could vote on how to conclude their campaigns.
In shops on Sundays and Mondays, The NLP is always available as a pound-busting digital edition and full replica of the printed paper from midnight on Saturdays. Save cash on single issues, even more on longer deals and the pages still rustle too!
Images courtesy of The Non-League Paper & @Colne_FC/Twitter
