OUTGOING Simon Winstone has revealed he decided to take a step back from management in order to put his family first.

Winstone is to quit as boss of Hellenic League Malmesbury at the end of the season, with his final game being Tuesday’s Division One West clash against Letcombe at the Flying Monk.

The Vics boss has presided over a difficult campaign that has seen his side struggle to avoid the drop, but insists he is leaving to dedicate more time to son Brodie, 16, and daughter Sylvan, 14.

“I’m a bit disappointed to go but I’ve got to be a bit selfish now,” he said.

“I’ve decided to leave to spend more time with my family. I enjoy my football but it’s not everything and my kids are at a stage where they need me there “I’ve had to put them second when I’ve had Malmesbury games on and my wife has been driving them round the country to football (Sylvan) and boxing (Brodie).

“It will be nice to give a bit back to them now before it’s too late.”

Winstone also stressed that he had timed his decision in order to make it easy for Malmesbury to appoint a successor ahead of a key time of the footballing year.

“I didn’t want to leave the club in the lurch by announcing it at the end of the season. I just felt it was the best time for someone else to have a go,” he said.

“When you’re doing that sort of job you have got to spend a lot of time looking at players and summer is a very important time for that sort of thing.

“It’s a good club and I feel it needs a bit more doing there, and I haven’t got the time to put into it what it needs. I’m sure they will get someone else who can and also get good players in.

“It’s a tough job because the catchment area isn’t brilliant. Malmesbury need to get the youth section and the reserves right first and as the years go on feed those players into the first team.

“The club haven’t really done that for years and with a lot of local clubs that’s where they are falling down.”

Winstone, who is not ruling out a return to management, paid tribute to those behind the scenes at Vics who keep the club ticking over with their hard graft.

“The players are all friends to me and the people at the club are brilliant,” he said. “There’s three or four people there that do all the work.”