Reeve forced to relinquish Diss position

Mark Reeve conceded he felt as if he was left with no choice after stepping down from his role as Diss Town manager this week.

Due to heightened work commitments away from the Tangerines, Reeve decided step down but will remain at Brewers Green Lane in a new role overseeing football matters across the club with the aim of improving the club’s links with the community.

Former Long Stratton manager Ross Potter has already agreed to take up the reins and replace Reeve in the Diss Town hotseat as he makes the move up from the Anglian Combination Premier Division to the Thurlow Nunn League First Division.

“It is a difficult one for me personally because I didn’t want to leave my role but felt it was in the best interest of the club,” said Reeve of his decision.

“Due to new work commitments I will be away for 10 to 15 Saturdays of the season and I felt it was too much.

“I couldn’t afford to do that to the club.

“I didn’t want to give up my position but the club’s needs have to come first.

“Things will continue to run smoothly and I will still be involved at the club, so it won’t be a massive overhaul.

“Ross has good experience and I think he was definitely ready for the step up.

“We have had conversations in the past and built a good relationship and I know he has wanted to test himself, which he now has the chance to do.

“Although I will still be involved in the football side of things at the club, I won’t be stepping on Ross’ toes or getting involved in first-team matters.”

Reflecting on his new role, Reeve is determined to build a stronger link to the wider community and improve the club’s reputation, something he feels has been lacking in the past.

“My aim is now to concentrate on matters more off the field which, perhaps, haven’t been done before,” he added, speaking after the club’s open day on Saturday.

“Over the last four weeks we have been really trying to build relations with the community and be more proactive.

“Holding open days tries to gives an incentive to the community to get involved and that is massively important.

“Personally, I think we are 10 years behind where we need to be and we have to snowball with things like this.

“We are trying to encourage people in and create more of a community feel about the club because perhaps, inadvertently, that hasn’t been done in the past.

“We have always relied on being the big local club but teams like Harleston Town and Scole United are all on our heels and the club has to do more to establish itself as the big team.

“It hasn’t been good enough and we have to do more to move forwards.”

n Downes: ‘It was a mistake to leave Diss’ - see page 52