LEE Harding feels it is unfair for him and the club to take criticism that a lack of funding has led to Braintree Town's current predicament at the foot of the Vanarama National League table.

The Iron chairman said he was genuinely saddened to see manager Brad Quinton depart on Saturday in the wake of the 2-1 defeat by Eastleigh, but he added that taking just six points from a possible 45 showed that something was not working and they felt a change had to be made.

"It was a really sad day as Brad is a personal friend and I'm disappointed we had to make this decision," said Harding.

"We all have to look at ourselves because it has not been good enough.

"You can blame the club for not spending more than it could afford, but Brad knew the budget from day one and the reality is that we have six points from a possible 45.

"It's easy to throw sticks and stones at the club and say it's all about money, but we have significantly increased the budget this year and it has been increased further again during the season with the fundraising done by the 12th Man group.

"I don't think some of the money has been used as wisely as it might have been, but I'm not going to criticise Brad.

"I have taken a fair bit of stick on social media over the weekend but we are spending what we can afford.

"I could borrow millions against the freehold that we have on the stadium and gamble on the future of the club, but how many clubs have gone down that road and failed.

"There are some who have come recently to the club who have been having a go, but over the last 15 years, yes we've had a relegation, but we have also had three promotions and I want us to continue making the right decisions."

Quinton said as he announced his departure that he felt it was time to go after being told that he couldn't bring in the players that he wanted, but Harding said the club had allowed striker Jake Cass to come in at the end of last week and he felt the squad needed to be trimmed before any further new blood came in.

The chairman added: "On Saturday when we got the game back to 2-1 (against Eastleigh), I was praying that we'd get another goal to give ourselves as a club - not just Brad - a bit of breathing space, but I'm a great believer in what is meant to be will be and we have to move forward now.

"Brad is very popular at the club and we all like Brad, but if you don't win matches then there have to be changes.

"We couldn't go on forever.

"It was a number of things but we felt as a club that things were not as we would have liked them to be and results were primary among them.

"Brad said that we had stopped him bringing in players, but I spent all day last Friday signing player number 32 of the season.

"I thought it was a strange stick to throw at us because we have worked to back him, but when you are operating within a tight budget, players coming in have to be balanced by players going out and we have 26 or 27 currently on the books.

"I think there will have to be some inevitable departures coming now and that will allow some room to bring in fresh faces when the time is right for the new manager whoever they may be.

"We genuinely appreciate all that Brad did for us last season (in getting promoted from National League South).

"It was a brilliant response that allowed us to bounce back as a club, but from where we are now, we have to give ourselves the best chance to turn our fortunes around.

"If we act and we still get relegated then at least we can say we gave it our best try to get out of where we were."

When the new manager does come in, Harding said he felt it would be good to see the size of the squad trimmed from its current level.

"We have some good players, but I think we have too much quantity," he added.

"Under Alan Devonshire, I think it was necessary to carry a big squad because there were only the transfer windows when you could do business, but that's not the case now.

"In my opinion, a squad of 18 would be optimal.

"If you have that within the same budget that we have 26, then it stands to reason that the quality of the players in the 18 should be higher for the same money.

"If you then get injuries, you then go into the loan market and if that isn't working then you release players and get more.

"We got a number of new players in recently, but we have not seen any depart."