Martin Elliott says he has no regrets about appointing Kevin Keehan as manager.

Keehan’s 11-month reign as Lewes boss came to an end when he resigned following Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Rushden and Diamonds, the Rooks’14th successive Blue Square premier defeat.

Steve Ibbitson was last night named as his replacement in a caretaker capacity with Danny Cullip working alongside him as player-coach.

Managing director Elliott caused a storm among fans when he replaced Steven King with Keehan within days of Lewes being crowned Blue Square south champions last April.

Keehan’s reign has coincided with one of the bleakest periods in the history of the financially-stricken club.

They have been up for sale since the start of November and still have the threat of going into administration hanging over them.

Elliott is hoping Keehan’s departure will entice potential investors to come forward to get involved in the club but he also insists Lewes made the right decision to appoint Keehan at the end of last season.

He said: “It has not worked out as one would have hoped but I have no regrets.

“We felt a fairly radical course of action had to be taken and we feel it was the right decision with the roles Kevin took on and off the field.

“He has not had a great deal of luck and the economic climate has killed off a lot of what Kevin could bring to the table in terms of sponsorship.

“However, the possibilities would have been an awful lot worse if we had not taken the course of action we did.”

Elliott says the club’s immediate need is to address the bigger picture of their problems off the pitch which is why they have gone for a caretaker appointment for the time being.

He hopes new investors may come forward now that Keehan has left and, if that happens, says it will be their job to plan the long-term future of the club.

He said: “What we are looking for is some people to take it on and the decision (on a permanent manager) will ultimately be theirs. That has got to happen in the next few weeks.

“We are more than happy to work with whoever these individuals may be.

“If they were holding back because of Kevin and his team the slate has been wiped clean. e have a very serious situation here.

“We have an adjournment on a winding-up order and have a decision to make on administration. The outcome is we must rally around and raise some money. We still feel some sort of share issue would give us a chance.

“At this moment we are not in a position as a business to go out into the wider market place to try to recruit a manager. We have got to deal with the bigger picture first.

“We need to underpin the financial position to give us an opportunity to go forward.”

Chairman Terry Parris was handed the responsibility of finding a new management team and he believes a combination of Ibbitson and Cullip, who was player-coach under Keehan, is the best option.

The pair will take charge for Saturday’s home game with Kidderminster. They will be assisted by Jason Hopkinson and Steve Eke.

Ibbitson, a former Leatherhead and Sutton player, has been joint manager of the hugely successful youth team this season with Hopkinson.

Together they led Lewes under-18s to the third round proper of the FA Youth Cup where they lost out 2-1 to Premier League side Hull City. Eke is the coach of that team.

Ibbitson, who is a hugely respected coach, took charge of the reserves as they went down 3-1 away to Aldershot in the Combination League yesterday afternoon and then dashed back to the Dripping Pan for last night’s youth team game against Whyteleafe.

Terry Graves has left his position as assistant-manager following the departure of Keehan.