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However, the Gresley faithful won't be getting rid of me that easily as I intend to remain at the club having accepted an offer from our chairman Barry North to join him and his colleagues on the board of directors. I am very honoured to have been offered this opportunity and I hope that I can be of assistance to the club and the existing board members in helping to take things forward off the pitch in support of the team on it for many years to come.

The decision to step down from the team management after 14 years with the club - the last 10 of which have been as first team manager - has been something I've been considering for quite some time. Without doubt it's been one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in my life as anyone who knows me will know how much I absolutely love this football club and what a huge part of my life it has been.

I am as proud to be in charge of the team today as I was when I was promoted as a 29 year old reserve team manager to replace Jon Newsome as manager back in July 2003.
However after much consideration, deliberation and discussion with my family I have come to the decision that after a decade in the dugout the time is now right for both the football club and myself to step down and take a break from the management side of things.

As mentioned I am extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to manage such a great football club and to have completed 10 years in charge is a significant achievement in this day and age and one I am extremely proud of.

From a personal perspective I'm hoping that this move will not only allow me the time to recharge my batteries but more importantly to spend much more time with my family and friends which is something that I've not been able to do much of over the last few years. Whilst it's personally very sad to be stepping down as manager of the club I have grown to love over the years I consider myself very fortunate to be in a win/win situation of still being able to be involved with things going forwards albeit in a different capacity.

Having recently moved house from Burton on Trent to the village of Church Gresley both our football club and indeed the community in and around the Swadlincote area is now very much an integral part of my life and inmy new role on the board of directors I very much hope that this will be so for some years to come and that together we can finally realise the dream of moving to a new stadium in the near future.

I have been hugely fortunate to meet so many fantastic people through the game of football during the last decade or so. There have been so many people either directly connected with the club, the leagues in which we have competed in or from the clubs we have played against over the years who will remain friends with me for the rest of my life.

I also have many, many fantastic on pitch memories from the last decade that will remain with me in my thoughts forever. There have been lots of highs and lows under both clubs guises and the journey we have all been on together can certainly be likened to a roller coaster ride over the years.

The main personal satisfaction I will take with me into my summer holidays comes from having guided our reformed club back to Step 4 of the football pyramid after the liquidation of Gresley Rovers at the end of the 2009 season.

Winning the East Midlands Counties and Midland Football Alliance championships back to back and also being awarded Manager of the Year for the Midland Football Alliance last season are the obvious personal stand out memories of recent years but there are certainly many more that will remain in my mind for many years to come. For example, the journey we all went through in getting to the FA vase quarter finals three seasons ago is also a personal highlight of mine as well as being one of my biggest disappointments at the same time. We had an amazing run in the competition to get to the last 8 and whilst it was a brilliant experience we were all very disappointed that we didn't get to emulate the great Frank Northwood side of 91 in getting to the Wembley final.

Under Gresley Rovers the obvious low point for me was the liquidation of a club with over 125 years history and tradition. The highlight for me was reaching the 2006 playoff final after an excellent campaign in which we finished in 5th place. This also saw one of my lowest moments in charge of the side as we just fell short of winning promotion to the then UniBond sponsored Premier Division after a heartbreaking last minute defeat at Kendall Town.

On reflection the liquidation of Gresley Rovers was perhaps inevitable. Season after season even before I took over the manager's job the club had been blighted with budget cuts and late / non payment of the players and coaching staff.

On a positive note I'm pleased to say that the way in which such financial mismanagement of our club was allowed to happen in the way it did back then will never happen again given the way our current board operate.
The club has learned its lesson and never again will it allow one person to be in sole control of our Football Clubs financial position to the extent our last Chairman was.

Having said that though my personal view is that things just got out of control for Mark Evans and in no way did he ever intend things to get the way they did. Having worked very closely with him for some years in my opinion that his only "crime" from our clubs perspective was being far too proud to admit the problems we had. He covered up the true extent of the clubs financial position and didn't accept help offered to him on many occasions from his fellow board members when he
should have taken it. He thought he could get the club out of the position it found itself in on his own but things spiralled out of control and he failed miserably. The disastrous consequence was that our historic club name was to be no more.

Our subsequent two league demotion and reformation as Gresley FC heralded an exciting and challenging era for all concerned with the club and as far as I'm concerned after four seasons it's so far so good. The reformation really seemed to galvanise the community and brought everyone at the club much closer together. Most of us appreciated just how close we came to having no football club
to be involved with at all.

Full credit must go to Mark Harrision and the board at the time who stepped in and took the club through the journey of discovering the true extent of the crippling financial situation we were in and handling the situation so professionally. Many lesser people would have just walked away if they had just joined a new football club and uncovered a situation as horrific as he did but he rallied the board and stood up to the challenge and now under the Chairmanship of Barry North and the current board the club is in very safe hands.

I believe that I am leaving the playing squad in a sound and stable position with the hope that after what has been a season of consolidation at step 4 we can kick on next season and realistically challenge for at least a playoff position.

Yes, I am as disappointed as most that we were unable to sustain the position in the play-off places we found ourselves in at the turn of the year to have a crack at a third successive promotion. Our inconsistent home form this year has cost us that opportunity which is ironic given the fact that our home form was the platform for our two recent promotions.

We have been unbeaten when playing away at most of sides in the top half of the table this season and as such proved that we are not far away from being realistic top five contenders aside from our inconsistency. My view is that we have the nucleus of a squad capable of pushing on next season with perhaps three or four additions in the right areas, a bit of tightening defensively and some fresh ideas from a new voice in charge of the team.

In order for us to enable the right calibre of player we need to be brought in the club to support a realistic promotion challenge next season we need to generate more funds to add to a playing budget that has effectively remained the same as previous seasons. One of my main tasks now is to help the club come up with some ideas in that regard to enable us to be more competitive in attracting better players where needed and support whoever the club appoints as the new manager.

I would like to place on record my personal thanks to the club's magnificent supporters, volunteers and officials as well as all the players who have represented the club for me over the years in which I
have been manager. I would also like to thank my family for its support over the years. Any non-league manager will tell you that often your family take a back seat when you are manager of a football club and to have the backing and support of your family makes things so much easier in doing the job.

Thanks also to all those who have assisted me on my backroom staff over the years. A special thanks also to my current staff and playing squad and in particular I would like to mention the work Martin Rowe has done in support of me over recent years. Martin has been instrumental in the club's achievement of getting back to the Evo-Stick league status we now enjoy.

I am very much hoping to have a testimonial game arranged in pre-season in so I can say a proper farewell. I plan to have some our favourite characters who have represented the club over the last decade in attendance for the game. Further details on this will be announced in due course.

I would like to mention the supporters in particular who have been magnificent in its support of the team in recent years. They have rightly criticised me and the team when justified and given us a kick up the backside when required but overall they have backed us to the hilt in their numbers season after season.

As such I would like to dedicate the success we have had on the pitch in the last few seasons to the club's supporters and assure them that I will continue to do my best to help the club in my new role.

Next Saturday's game against Kidsgrove Athletic will see me in the home dugout for a league game for the last occasion in my time as Gresley manager and will no doubt be an emotional occasion for me. I very much hope to have an opportunity to win my final home game in charge and share that with as many of our supporters who are able to be there on the day. Along with Martin Rowe I will then take the side on its travels for our season's remaining games at Sheffield and Rainworth.

Please be assured that as always the squad and I will give our all until the last kick of the season despite the fact that for the first time since being reformed we have nothing but pride to play for.

I'd like to finish off by thanking again everyone for their fantastic support of the team and myself over the years.

Many thanks

Gary Norton