Harding: change was essential for Iron

2:44pm Thursday 24th April 2008

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Braintree Town chairman Lee Harding thinks the club would have been relegated had they not sacked former boss George Borg.

The Iron head into their crunch game with Eastbourne Borough on Saturday with their hopes of reaching the Blue Square South play-offs still alive.

And supremo Harding has been delighted with the work of boss Lee Patterson.

The former East Thurrock United boss took over from Borg in October, with the Iron languishing in a lowly position in the table.

And Harding is sure that had the club not acted, they may well have been contemplating a return to Ryman League football next season.

He told the Braintree and Witham Times: "If you look back over the last nine months, the first two of those months were a disaster.

"There's no other word to describe them.

"Having got to the play-offs the previous season and then increased the playing budget by £1,000 a week that summer, to find ourselves in a relegation position and out of the FA Cup was very concerning.

"I think if we hadn't changed the manager in October, we would have gone down.

"The previous manager had lost the dressing room and since the change our disciplinary record has been a lot better.

"But Lee Patterson has come in and our form since then has been nothing short of championship-winning form.

"We've had an average of around two points a game since Lee took over and it's been a remarkable transformation.

"Brad Quinton and Tom Marshall have also played their part in helping that to happen and the players have responded very well to the challenge - they deserve a lot of credit for that.

"And it's not just in the league that we have done well.

"We had a great run in the FA Trophy which was only ended by the Blue Square Premier champions Aldershot and generated us £20,000."