Liam Daish described Ebbsfleet United as "a rehab club for players" as he looked back on his eight years in charge at Stonebridge Road.

Chris McPhee, who scored the winning goal when the Fleet won the FA Trophy in 2008, was just one of the players whose career was turned around by Daish.

The 44-year-old, who left the club by mutual consent last week, had a knack of spotting a spark in wayward footballers and coaxing the best out of them.

Daish said: "There were quite a few players like that. Chris McPhee was on the verge of giving up football and we rejuvenated him. We were a little bit of a rehab club for players.

"Some players were disillusioned with the game and we had to get them back enjoying their football.

"Charlie MacDonald, look where he went (Southend and Brentford). Bradley Johnson was in the reserves at Northampton, we gave him first-team football and now he’s a Premier League player (at Norwich).

"When I signed Preston Edwards, everyone was frowning at me. He was a goalkeeper who had just been relegated but I saw something in him.

"There was a lot of man-management, it wasn’t all about coaching. We worked with players’ indiscretions and what they lacked in certain areas. Players have moved on to better things and there aren’t many I’ve fallen out with."

Read the full interview with Liam Daish in this week's Gravesend Messenger.