Former Hythe caretaker boss Martin Chandler has left his role as manager of the club’s new under-23 side.

Chandler looked set to play a key part in the Cannons’ rebuild following relegation from Isthmian South East.

But he’s left Reachfields a matter of weeks into the job, citing a difference in opinion over how the 23s should be run.

He’s since accepted the job of under-23s manager at Lydd.

Chandler was made caretaker manager by new Hythe chairman Andy Nanda for the final three games of the season after Nick Davis departed by mutual consent, blooding several young players.

He held a series of trial days for the new under-23s but ultimately held different views to the club on the direction of travel.

“Their vision and my vision didn’t really match as to how to take the 23s forward,” said Chandler.

“It was a tough one because I completely get what they’re trying to do with bringing youngsters into the game but some of the things that were put forward, I didn’t agree with.

“It was do you carry on and see if you can work or do you cut your losses now?

“It was amicable, the chairman said he respected my decision, there was no bad blood.

“In a year’s time I might sit back and think it was the wrong decision because what they’ve done has actually worked.

“Who knows? You can’t look into the future.

“It’s a difference of opinion and that’s fine. People have their plan and their view and I’ve got mine.

“It’s how they want to move forward as a club.

“I’m not going to fall out with anyone over it.

“That door’s closed and another one opened within three or four days after I resigned.”

Chandler met Lydd chairman Scott Lindsey for talks after learning of a potential opening at the club.

The meeting couldn’t have gone any better.

“I was interested because I did want to do something under-23-wise but I wasn’t going to go out and search,” said Chandler.

“This came about so I went down to Lydd to meet the chairman, Scott.

“I set out what I wanted to do and what I wanted to achieve and I had his full support.

“Within 15 or 20 minutes of the meeting, it was, ‘We want you here, you’ve got good coaching experience, good playing experience, you run it as you want to do it’.

“I’ve gone in with my management team and we’ve started work already. We had our first trials on Monday night.

“We want to push them up the Development East League and I’m going to have a tight working relationship with the first team as well.

“If there’s lads who are doing really well with me, I’ll be speaking to Ryan (Smith, manager) about them.

“The way they want to push the club on at Lydd, their vision is the same as mine.

“They want to build for the future and hopefully I can be part of that journey.”