Terry White has broken his silence about why he quit as manager of St Leonards.

He called the situation at the club a "mockery" and a "fiasco" and says he was left with little choice but to leave.

White was asked by shareholder Andy Thomson to take a coaching role following 11 consecutive defeats that plunged Saints into the Dr Martens eastern division relegation zone.

Several contracted players were forced to leave because of the financial crisis at the club and Thomson drafted in Gary Bowyer, from Ryman division two side Clapton, as player-manager.

But White believes it was not handled the right way.

He said: "I was asked to take a coaching role at the club but I wasn't prepared to do that so I was left with no choice but to resign.

"I'm not going to train the players all week and let someone else take the credit when they get the results. It's a bit of an insult after all the things I have done for the club, to be honest.

"Andy Thomson obviously doesn't think I'm a good manager but I don't see how he can think that when I was only in charge full-time for five weeks.

"I am very disappointed with how it has ended because I think he is just trying to justify getting rid of me so he can bring his own man in."

White admitted he had been thinking about leaving a week before, after being told St Leonards had resigned from the Dr Martens League, claims the club have not denied.

He said: "I was told by somebody who would have done the paperwork that they had resigned and he felt I needed to know. There's no way I would have gone the next 20 games knowing that we were going down anyway, it's unfair on the players and supporters.

"It makes a mockery of getting rid of me and it sums up the whole situation at the club. There are a lot of weird things going on and nobody knows exactly what is happening.

"They go off on a whim and say they are going to do this and that and give out fancy press statements, but nothing ever gets done.

"There needs to be more deeds and not just words because there is a lot of talk at the club but not much happening.

"The whole thing is a fiasco."

White was training with Sussex County League side Eastbourne Town last night and is thinking over a player-coach role at the club but admits he would have liked to have stayed at St Leonards.

"Overall, I don't think it went too bad for me considering what I had to work with and I would have liked to have stayed if the situation had been different.

"In general, it's a good club and I would like to see them do well again but they have to sort themselves out before that can happen."

Meanwhile, Eastbourne Borough chairman Len Smith is confident Priory Lane will be up to standard if they are promoted to the Dr Martens League premier division.

Southern League chairman Doug Gillard and vice-chairman Barry Hughes assessed the ground last week for premier division football, should Borough go up.