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Alan Dowson slams Woking over ’20-second phone call’ sacking and vows never to return

Alan Dowson slams Woking over a ’20-second phone call’ sacking and vows never to return to the club again, leaving fans shocked.

The manager has been left hurt after the way he was axed by those at the top of the National League outfit on Monday night.

He has since opened up about being given the boot and to being treated shabbily in his view, before declaring “I’ll never set foot in the club again”.

He joined the Cards in May 2018, and became a fan favourite as we saw in the reaction of his departure earlier this week, but he now feels let down by the nature of his dismissal.

Alan Dowson was left rueing his side's wasteful finishing against Grimsby Town.

“I tried to do the job in a different way because I knew we couldn’t compete with money so I tried to do it the community way and get people behind the club,” he said.

“And I don’t mind if they want to do it a different way and I have no problem with that. But what has hurt me more than anything, and I have no words to describe it, is that I got a 20-second phone call off Kelvin Reay [director who has since resigned] after four years of giving my life to the job. That hurts more than anything.

“There was no face to face, no nothing. I just got that. I think it’s really bad.

“I didn’t see it coming. If you think about it, I got promotion, got to the semi-final of the FA Trophy, we got to the FA Cup third round, we beat Swindon Town away. I saw the club through the worst pandemic in the world’s history, managed through the housing development [distraction] and all of a sudden I get half a chance to do a full-time structure which took a long time to do.

“I realise the fans turned in the end but then I hear like that they’ve done it [sacked me]. The worst thing is, there’s people in the background making the decisions. How about getting me in man to man? They could have said, ‘look Dowse, thank you for this, thank you for your efforts or whatever but it’s not working’.

“But no, it was a call which lasted 20 seconds saying, ‘by the way we’ve sacked you’. I’m not blaming Kelvin. He was the one told to make the call. Then 20 minutes later I read the statement on the website. I learned more from that than I’d known from the call.”

Results have been poor in recent times, prompting chief executive John Katz and his colleagues, who have consistently backed Dowson, to make the call.

He added: “I’ve always had this thing, where I’ve had so many good times at Woking, that when I leave I’ll come back and smile at people. I haven’t got that in me any more and that’s the honest truth.

“I’m going to go down to Blacky’s [Martin Black’s pub the Kingfield Arms] from 5pm on Friday [March 4] to say goodbye to people who matter if you like. Then I’ll never be at Woking again. I’m not one to hang around places. I’ll go to my next job.”

Dowson goes on to express how he was ‘surprised’ that joint assistant manager Ian Dyer is to take the team at Grimsby Town on Saturday [March 5], revealing others in his management team – Martin Tyler, Christian Jolley and Nathan Collier – have all left the club.

Chairman Rosemary Johnson also stepped down [said to be not Dowson-related] while Reay, an ally of Dowson, has also resigned.

Dowson added: “John [Katz] sold me this big dream for the next three years. All of a sudden it’s come to this. Kelv and Rosemary, I will wish them well on Friday, and then I’ll be gone. I’ve got nothing there [at the club] now, not how I’ve been treated.”

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The club’s statement, from Katz, said: “Following the prolonged run of poor form in the league, the board of directors has taken the tough decision to relieve Dowse of his duties.

“Since being appointed manager prior to the 2018/19 season, Dowse has engineered an instant return to the National League after inheriting a relegation side, he has led the club to a Third Round FA Cup home tie as the Cards played host to Watford, he took the club to the semi-finals of the FA Trophy in 2020/21, and he was instrumental in the club’s financial survival in the midst of the global pandemic.

“The club would like to thank Dowse for all he has done both on and off the pitch during his tenure in Woking. Dowse is kind and generous with his time serving the community in which he managed. The club and this community will miss his charisma and passion for Woking, as will the local charities he has done so much for. We wish him well in all of his future endeavours and he’ll always be welcome at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.”

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