Steve Brown has spoken out for the first time since being sacked as Ebbsfleet United manager.

Brown left the club on November 26, the day after Fleet were beaten 3-0 at home by Gosport.

But the former Charlton defender had known his position was under threat for months.

He said: "You’ve seen it coming. Supporters have seen it coming. The board decided some time ago, if I’m honest, but you’ve still got a job to do, you still have to go in and take training and you still have to keep that team upbeat, keep the morale high and you’ve still got to try to do your very best to get results. But I did see it coming."

Brown wasn't told in person - but that didn't bother him.

"That's football," he said. "I literally had one phone call from the football club and then several emails.

"It doesn’t matter how it comes. It’s not an easy thing to do. When you tell a player he’s not getting another contract, they’re not easy things to do.

"So none of that disappoints me, not at all."

Brown signed a two-year extension to his contract in April but lasted only 18 league games this season.

"I don’t know what changed," he said. "You’d have to ask people higher up than me. I’ve had one phone call and it just said ‘we’re making a change and we’re going for a change of direction’. That’s literally the explanation I’ve had.

"I’ve then read subsequent things about poor home form, which I wholly disagree with. I’ve got the statistics from my time as manager and that’s certainly not a reason to have made the change – especially in November, especially with us fourth in the league.

"I think something did change. You’d have to ask the board what, when, why and where.

"But when you come in after a 3-0 win against Farnborough and you’re second in the league – which was my highest position as manager in my time at Ebbsfleet – and it feels like you’ve lost and you’re in the relegation zone, you know something’s wrong."

Read the full interview with Steve Brown in the Gravesend Messenger on Thursday.