FORMER Margate manager Chris Kinnear says he is shocked and disappointed that he and assistant manager Kevin Raine were dismissed.

Club directors had asked the pair to resign after the 1-1 home draw against Windsor and Eton, but they refused.

Club chairman Colin Page said: "Keith Piper and I brought Chris Kinnear in 10 years ago. He’s had a bad two or three years, ground-sharing at Dover and Ashford, and, all right, this season he started with four players, but there’s 49 players gone through the books and we have a wage bill of over £5,000 a week.

"We have been getting gates of 400 to 500 the last couple of games and we are losing a lot of money."

He added: "There have been people saying the directors are lining their pockets but we are dipping into our money to pay the wages. Chris could have stayed and we could have gone down and we could still go down."

Kinnear said: "I am very shocked and disappointed. The last two years when I could have gone to several clubs I have stuck with it. This time last year the supporters were carrying banners asking me not to leave.

"At one stage the club had agreed a compensation package with another team and I still didn’t go."

Kinnear was the manager through the club’s exile at Ashford’s Homelands.

He said: "Things like that are why I’m disappointed: having an embargo [on buying players], players not being paid. If I had left two or three years ago the club would have found it more difficult."

He added: "We started the season not being able to play a friendly because we couldn’t raise a team. If it was just football I would hold my hand up and walk away, but I would defy Jose Mourinho to keep the club together."

However, he is confident that at 50, he has a bright future in football. He said: "Life goes on and things happen for a reason."