AFC Fylde chief outlines head coach latest and duo's departure

Going into the festive period, Fylde sit bottom of the National League table and risk an immediate return to the northern division for 2024/25.

They have been playing catch-up after a poor start under Adam Murray, who departed in October with director of football Chris Beech asked to take interim charge.

Speaking to the club’s media team last week, Haythornthwaite said: “It’s well known that the running for the head coach was a straight fight between Adam and Chris.

“There were lots of factors involved but we felt we should offer Chris the job of director of football which he accepted. Obviously things didn’t work out in this division with Adam.

“I think it’s fair to say the quality of the football, the quality of the clubs at this level, took us all by surprise.

“I didn’t think we were heading in the right direction and we had to make a decision.

“Chris was the obvious choice to take over as caretaker manager and give him the opportunity to maybe do what he probably loves doing more than being director of football.

“We didn’t want to jump in and say ‘Chris, the job’s yours’. We wanted to give Chris the chance and so far things are going well.

“We haven’t set a date when we’re going to make that decision but hopefully Chris can turn it around.”

As well as a change in the dugout, there have also been arrivals and departures on the playing front with two notable exits.

Skipper Alex Whitmore joined Solihull Moors at the end of November, followed by the departure of Gold Omotayo to Kidderminster Harriers a week later.

Both might have been considered surprising moves, given Whitmore’s long service and Omotayo having only arrived over the summer.

Haythornthwaite said of Whitmore: “We had an offer from Solihull in the summer which was a pretty substantial offer.

“We decided to turn that down and then Alex got injured. We brought in Sam (Graham) and when Solihull came back with pretty much the same offer, having discussed it with Chris, he felt it was a good deal and we should take it so we could use that money to strengthen the squad in other ways.

“It was purely a business decision and what we always do is try and do that in the best interests of the club.

“Regarding Gold Omotayo, managers, coaches need to understand the league you’re in.

“I think it’s fair to say we probably thought by getting some of the best – if not the best – players in position in our league, Gold Omotayo being the leading scorer behind Nick (Haughton), that they would step up and be able to perform.

“Gold, unfortunately, in our opinion wasn’t going to deliver those goals that we thought he was going to do.

“With that in mind, once you get a mindset that maybe a player’s not going to fit, the best thing is to try and find someone else who can hopefully do a better job and maybe suit the style of play and how we want to play the game.”