Dewsbury Rams coach Neil Kelly says that last week was the right time for him to announce his departure from the club for personal reasons.
Kelly’s second spell in charge of the Rams will come to an end after what he describes as a season of underachievement, having last year sparked a major revival that saw them avoid relegation.
The Rams have now advertised the post and Chairman Mark Sawyer told League Express they have already fielded around 30 applicants for the job.
Kelly explained: “There’s never a right time for these things but this is as good as any.
“There is still a large amount of the budget left for anybody that comes in after me to do the recruitment for next year, because they will want their own players.”
On his second spell in charge, Kelly said: “When you’re working with a competitive but tight budget, it can go one of two ways – you can exceed expectations, which we all hoped would be the case, or you can have a season of struggle.
“With the personal situation I have I don’t really need to risk that pressure and stress when we’re having a season where we’re struggling.
“I also thought it would be dishonest for me to sit down with potential new players and talk about Dewsbury if I knew I wasn’t going to be here myself.
“I’ve been very proud to go back to Dewsbury, and hopefully over the time I’ve been here they will think I’ve done a good job.
“But I do think with the squad that we had that we underachieved.
“We have though secured a place in the competition for another year to pass the baton on to whoever comes in next.”
