By Luke Cawdell

Andy Hessenthaler hopes the fans at Dover will be understanding after Gillingham raided the Blue Square Bet South club last week for their manager.

Ian Hendon (pictured) was named as the new Dover boss just 18 days before Gills manager Hessenthaler, his predecessor at Crabble, brought him to Priestfield as his assistant manager.

It left the Dover chairman Jim Parmenter and fans at the club fuming.

Hessenthaler was looking for a new assistant after the shock departure of his original number two Mark Robson and he insists the move was purely one of necessity.

He said: "It’s upset Dover a bit but unfortunately sometimes when you make a decision which is right for the football club you have to do it.

"I know the Dover chairman has had a pop and I can understand his feelings on it and I do appreciate that. He’s a business man and I hope he realises that sometimes you have to make decisions that can upset other people and that’s what’s happened."

Hessenthaler added: "I don’t want to get into an argument with the chairman and I understand his frustration. Ian is not just a good assistant, he is a good friend and you need people around you that you trust - that’s the reason I did what I did."