Paul Kennett has been told the door will be left open for him to return to Lewes.

Club captain Kennett has been forced to pack up football with immediate effect due to work commitments.

It was a tough decision for the Rooks' longest-serving player and one he has spent a long time reaching.

Kennett has started only ten games this season and just three in Blue Square south but he insists a lack of action has nothing to do with his decision to quit.

Having played for Lewes for six seasons, Kennett has the club in his heart and he has made it clear he would love to play for them again in the future.

However, the 29-year-old has asked fans to understand his decision.

He said: "I run my own company, PM Security Systems, which we started nearly three years ago. It has just got busier and busier and it has become harder for me to juggle family life, football and work.

"I have missed training for the last two Thursdays because of work, I have two kids as well and there are not enough hours in the day to do it all.

"I have just taken on two big contracts that I need to put more time into. It has been building up for a while and it got to a stage where I had to do something. I have been leaving my home at 5.15 in the morning and getting home at 8.10 in the evening and that is without football.

"I am disappointed but something had to give. A bit further down the line if my workload gets easier that may free me up to come back to football."

Kennett would like that to be with Lewes. He joined the club in October 2002 from Worthing and was the only player left at the club from when Steven King took over as manager in the summer of 2003.

He has played a key role in arguably the most successful period in the club's history, winning double promotion in King's first season in charge, finishing in a Conference south play-off position twice and twice reaching the first round of the FA Cup.

While many other players have come and gone, Kennett has remained a fixture in the team and enjoyed a great relationship with King, to the extent that he turned down a £5,000 move to Weymouth in 2005.

He said: "Hopefully I will be back playing for next season. I would like to go back to Lewes because I love playing for the club but they are going places and we will have to see whether they would want me.

"I have seen the club develop so much. It is a great club and I was proud to be captain.

"I would like to thank the fans for all their support over the last five or six years and also Kingy for sticking by me because I have seen a lot of players come and go.

"There has been no fall-out, definitely not. People might look at it and say it is because I haven't been playing a lot this year but that isn't the case.

"I had a groin operation in the summer and couldn't join in pre-season straight away which put me behind everyone else. I was ready for the start of the season but I didn't have the fitness so I started on the bench and the team were doing so well.

"I hope they go on to get promoted, although if they did I couldn't help thinking it might have been me lifting the cup as captain."

King, meanwhile, has assured Kennett he is welcome back when he decides to play again.

He said: "I am sad to see Kenno go. He is a great competitor and a great guy on and off the park.

"He is also still on contact at Lewes and I know he will be back in a Lewes shirt some time soon because I have told him that the door is always open."

Lewes visit Newport County on Sunday without Jay Conroy, who is suspended, and Charley Hearn, who suffered a foot injury in training on Thursday.