Sheppey United are looking for a new manager as Jack Midson departs; chairman Matthew Smith describes decision as an extremely difficult one to reach; Ross Wiles takes interim charge

Sheppey have made a surprise decision to change manager midway through pre-season.

Jack Midson led the team to the verge of the Isthmian South East play-offs last season in his first year in the job, having only taken over after Ernie Batten stood down just days before the 2022/23 campaign was about to start. Sheppey announced his departure on Friday morning.

A club statement said: “After a meeting between the chairman and manager yesterday (Thursday) evening, Sheppey United can confirm that Jack Midson has departed the football club.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to reach and we would like to place on record our thanks to Jack for all of his efforts over the past 11 months he was in charge of the first team.”

Sheppey host Canterbury City this Saturday (3pm) and coach Ross Wiles will take charge while the search for a new manager begins.

Midson had big shoes to fill last season after Batten had led The Ites to an unprecedented quadruple trophy success, which included the Southern Counties East Premier Division title.

Player-boss Midson was left to pick up the pieces and there was an inevitable slow start before the team started picking up a run of form in the second half of the season that led them to the verge of the play-offs.

Sheppey finished the season sitting seventh, just two points off the top five.

Over the summer Midson looked to keep the best of last season’s squad, but lost Warren Mfula to Faversham. In his place came returning striker Dan Bradshaw from Chatham.

Midson had until recently also been the club’s academy director, in partnership with the Cornwallis Academy in Maidstone. His coaching company was running the post-16 education programme for the club.

But a new partnership was agreed at the