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Former Ashford manager Danny Kedwell has told how he arranged a meeting to discuss plans for next season - only to end up losing his job.
Kedwell met co-owner Lloyd Hume at the Village Hotel in Maidstone on Monday where he expected to discuss which players he wanted to keep at the club.
So it came as a shock to the former Gillingham striker to be let go after only eight months in charge.
Ashford were on a run of three defeats but still only seven points off the Isthmian South East play-offs, in 10th place, despite being beset by injury problems all season.
Under Kedwell, they’d accumulated 37 points from 27 games, only eight less than the whole of last season.
They also enjoyed their best FA Cup run in 27 years, reaching the third qualifying round, and made the FA Trophy first round proper for the first time since 2003.
“The worst thing is I called the meeting to move forward on plans for next season,” said Kedwell, who was chosen by Hume and business partner Dave Warr to succeed Kevin Watson as their takeover neared completion last summer.
“The targets at the beginning of the season were that we’re fighting for a play-off spot by the end, which we still were.
“I was shocked, very shocked, given the injuries we’ve had.
“You have targets but unfortunately it’s out of your hands when you’ve got five, six, seven starters all out.
“That makes a massive difference when you haven’t had them for five or six weeks and then the ones who are playing, they need a rest because they’re playing every single week and they’re going to get niggles.
“We could never get a consistent team out. You’re constantly swapping things around to get through a game and you’re signing players on dual-reg just to make the bench up.
“Some games we’ve got away with it and some we haven’t but that’s the situation we’re in.
“You can set a target but you’ve got to make sure everything goes right for you to achieve it. Injuries and suspensions haven’t helped.
“I took my book along that I’d been working on all night, on players I wanted to keep and get on contract for next year, and it turned out to be the opposite.
“To be honest, it’s not making sense to me.
“It can’t be that I haven’t hit my targets because you can see the injuries I’ve had all season, and the suspensions, I’ve not had a full squad all year.
“As football people, those targets have to be moved, don’t they?
“The last three results haven’t been good enough but I haven’t had the squad.
“I can only think it’s a rash decision, not thinking it through, especially when I only had a meeting with the owners three weeks ago about building for next year if we don’t get in the play-offs, and I was straight with the players about that.
“I’m a very honest man.
“If the performances weren’t there and I was getting nothing out of the players, or my whole squad was there and I’m still not getting anything out of them, I’d be saying, yes, I deserve the sack.
“Everyone who knows me knows I’m an honest man.
“I tell the truth and if I deserved it, yes, but I’m a bit baffled by this one.
“It isn’t like we’re bottom of the league. If we’re bottom, I’d get it, and I’d be telling you I deserve to be sacked, but we’re seven points off the play-offs.”
Kedwell, who left his job as Chatham assistant manager to take charge at Homelands, will miss the Nuts & Bolts.
He bears no grudges and wishes them well.
“I’m gutted to be leaving because it’s a very good club,” said Kedwell, whose assistant Dean Beckwith has also departed.
“The fans are brilliant and the people around the club are magnificent. I always looked forward to going in.
“We were getting there and the crowds were up compared to last year.
“There are no hard feelings. I’m more gutted because I really enjoyed my time there with everyone.
“They’re such lovely people and the players were magnificent as well. They gave me their all.
“I know for a fact if I had a full squad, I guarantee we wouldn’t be sitting where we are in the table.
“That’s the most frustrating thing for me.”
Kedwell spoke to the squad following his meeting with Hume, who has taken over as manager initially until the end of the season.
He enjoyed a close relationship with the players and hopes they remain at Ashford.
“I want them to stay,” he said. “It’s down to them.
“It’s not about me, it’s about Ashford, and, like I say, it’s a great club with great fans and great people.
“For that reason, I want them to stay.
“I had such a good bond with the players.
“It hurts them when they lose because they want to do so well. It’s such a good changing room.”
Ashford lost 3-1 at Sevenoaks in Kedwell’s final game, Gary Lockyer with a second-half consolation.
Hume’s first match as boss sees the Nuts & Bolts host Merstham at Homelands this Saturday (3pm).