Michael Standing has backed Steve Ibbitson to be named Lewes manager even though the midfielder will not be at the club next season.

Standing is the first player to leave Lewes following their relegation from Blue Square premier.

The former Aston Villa player wants to play at a higher level and is hoping he can secure a return to full-time football.

But Standing also hopes Lewes survive and thrive without him – and he insists caretaker boss Ibbitson should be made full-time manager.

He said: “I won’t be playing for Lewes next season. There are a lot of good people at Lewes and I hope everything works out for them.

“Hopefully the club can move forward. They have got to try to get Ibbo to take the job. The majority of the team will be young players and he knows them better than anyone else.

“I hope he gets the job. I enjoyed playing for him but I don’t think it is the right thing for me or the club to stay there.”

Standing, 28, gave up full-time football when he left Grays last summer to sign for Lewes, where his uncle, Kevin Keehan, had taken over as manager.

As a youngster Standing played for England Schoolboys alongside the likes of Joe Cole, Scott Parker and Francis Jeffers and he remains England’s most capped player at that level.

He joined Aston Villa with his great pal, Gareth Barry, but failed to make a first-team appearance at Villa Park before spells with Bradford, Walsall, Chesterfield and Bournemouth.

Standing joined Lewes with a good reputation and did not disappoint in the first half of the season with a series of performances which caught the eye of some League clubs.

However, he struggled with fitness in the second half of the campaign.

He said: “My form was fine before I got injured in the Eastbourne game (on Boxing Day). I never got to a point after that when I was happy with my fitness.

“It is a hard league to play in and a physical league. If you are not fit you will get found out.

“When you are at a pro club you have time to build up your fitness before you come back in. I was out for four or five weeks and I didn’t have a training session before I played again. That is the big difference I noticed being part-time.

“A lot of people said you should only go part-time when you have to. They said you shouldn’t choose and I did.

“It worked out well in many respects. I have a little boy and it meant I was able to spend a lot of time with him which I may not have been able to do otherwise.

“It was a shame, though, it never quite worked out on the pitch.”

Standing will spend the summer trying to get fit before finding a new club.

He said: “In an ideal world I would like to go full-time again and give it a proper go but I will have to wait and see. If I have to go on trial I will.

“If I am fit I believe I am good enough to play League football. I don’t think I am any worse than I was two or three years ago.

“I have no concerns about playing higher and I don’t doubt myself but I have got to get fit and stay fit.”

Standing is sure to attract plenty of suitors during the summer. A player of his quality should not be playing below Blue Square premier but he hopes Lewes can return to that level one day.

He said: “Maybe they will get back to level at some stage and be in a position to sustain it, which they weren’t able to this time. I hope so.

“It is a big achievement for a club like Lewes to play at that level because there is not a huge fan base. They did fantastically well to get there.”