Craig Nelson’s life was made easy in his final weeks as Lewes boss before taking the reins at Tonbridge.

Nelson stayed in charge for the final four games of the Isthmian Premier season after news of his Angels appointment broke.

He was keen to see out the campaign at the Dripping Pan and that was able to happen before starting his new job.

“It’s such a credit to them - they’re unbelievable people and the way they dealt with the news, I couldn’t ask for any better,” said Nelson, who has named Joe Vines as assistant manager and Bryan Nzinga as first-team coach.

“They were understanding, they wished me well.

“We won on the final day which was good for the fans and we had a presentation weekend for the women’s team, which all the boys attended and we got to say goodbye properly.

“They’ve been great and I genuinely think I’ve made some friends for life anyway but that weekend cemented that.

“I had beautiful messages from the CEO and people hyper-extending themselves when they probably didn’t need to. I couldn’t have any more admiration for the people and the club and the way they treated me since I walked in.

“I know it’s me going a lot sooner than they planned but they thoroughly support my progression and it’s credit to the type of people at the club.”

Nelson finished his only season in charge of Lewes in 13th place but that doesn’t tell the full story.

The former Glebe boss implemented a number of changes and lifted the club after the blow of their high-profile women’s team suffering relegation from the Championship.

Nelson said: “Looking back as a management team, we were disappointed for where we finished because we beat a lot of the big teams that were up there and we felt we could have got into the play-offs.

“But taking a step back from that, looking at what we walked into and the target for year one from a club perspective, we over-achieved in that element.

“The resources we had to work with and the time we’ve taken over, whereby the women’s team had got relegated, it was a little bit of land of the unknown for the club.

“They had to let go of people because they had a lot of full-time staff but they now couldn’t afford it due to the status of the women’s team and stuff like that.

“Within that time of uncertainty, a lot of the staff and volunteers have said I provided a lot of energy and positivity and I was able to spin it round.

“It was doom and gloom on day one but I was able to share who I am and what we were about and the management team that stepped in with me always showed the positive energy to do that.

“We set the foundations for them to go and build on next year, so I think it’s objective achieved overall from a club perspective.

“From a management perspective, I think we could have done a little bit better but all in all it was a positive season which no doubt got us recognised and enabled me to be where I am now.”