Ashford United co-owner Lloyd Hume on life away from the dugout, his successor as manager Craig Stone, and why he’s prepared to revise promotion targets if necessary

Lloyd Hume says he’s enjoying owning a football club again since stepping down as Ashford United manager.

Hume handed control of first-team affairs to Craig Stone before Christmas - and doesn’t miss the dugout.

Results have improved significantly under Stone, with the Nuts & Bolts moving up to 10th in the Isthmian South East table, leaving Hume free to concentrate on growing the club off the field alongside business partner Dave Warr.

“I’m actually enjoying having a football club again,” said co-owner Hume. “It’s changed my perspective back to where I wanted it to be when I took over the football club with Dave.

“I’m actually enjoying it now 100 per cent rather than not enjoying the parts of it that came with being the manager.

“Everyone knows I like spinning plates, but when you manage a team at this level, with ambition, you have to be able to give it 100 per cent, which I was doing.

“But the reality is I’ve got to a stage in my life where I don’t want to have to do anything, I only want to do the things I want to do, and I haven’t got the same passion and enthusiasm for the small details that make a difference, so I was forcing myself to do these things.

“I was committed, and I was giving everything to it, but I wasn’t enjoying doing that.

“If you watch Craig in his current role, he lives, breathes and eats it, and so did I, but he enjoys it, whereas I wasn’t.

“I couldn’t be more committed to the football club and what we’re looking to achieve.

“I still work very hard with Craig, and he’ll tell you that himself, with players and getting players in that he wants, but I don’t have to do that day-to-day bit.

“I’m not going to say it’s a young man’s game because there’s lots of old managers who do really well but they