Whitstable Town have announced the departure of manager Marcel Nimani.

The Oystermen sit seventh in the SCEFL Premier Division table and are unlikely to make up enough ground to finish inside the play-offs.

With three games remaining, Nimani has handed in his resignation, with his last game a 5-0 win over Sutton Athletic.

A club statement said: “Whitstable Town first-team manager Marcel Nimani has today informed the club that he wishes to step down from his position with immediate effect.

“Head coach Craig Coles has also resigned.

“The board would like to thank both Marcel and Craig very much for all of their hard work during their time at the club since joining in October 2022.

“Dan Eason has kindly agreed to manage the team for the remaining games of this season and we are grateful to him for his continued support.

“A decision will then be made about managerial appointments for the 2024-25 season.”

In his own statement on social media, Nimani wrote: “(The) reasons are irrelevant - what goes in the house should always stay in the house.

“But the journey is all that matters.

“(It was) a tough decision to depart from a wonderful club, which I have grown to love in the past 15 months.

“WTFC is an incredible club but also a very difficult challenge, as their history has proven. It cannot always be down to the managers as they have all been creditable candidates.

“Ultimately, progress is progress and, one day, that turns into success.

“If you keep knocking down progress - however small you perceive it to be - you will never grow progress enough to turn it into success.

“Us as a management team, collectively with everyone associated at the club, we made plenty of progress and I’m extremely proud of the turnaround and the impact we have made during our time - both in results and also in our identity of play and performances.

“We leave the club in a far better place and in a stronger motion for next season.

“It’s a wonderful football club, with a family welcoming atmosphere, and I would encourage anyone to work at this football club.”

Whitstable play at Stansfeld this Saturday.

Nimani also spoke to KentOnline earlier this week and had been happy with the Oystermen’s form in their season run-in since a 4-0 loss at home to Fisher last month.

“In the last six games, we have won four, we have drawn one and narrowly lost one,” he said.

“Overall, the boys have responded very well to that Fisher catastrophe seven games ago now.

“I feel we are in good form. We’re scoring now, which has been our issue in that mid-season period when we were struggling for the results.

“It’s been a good turnaround and let’s see where it takes us.”

Whitstable’s win over Sutton Athletic kept alive their slim play-off hopes, although Nimani feels the number of home draws they’ve had may be the reason why they miss out.

He noted: “It’s just a shame that the mid-season dip has cost us a little bit more than we wanted it to.

“Ultimately, our biggest regret is the home draws. We have drawn six times at home.

“If you look at our away record, it’s actually been very impressive. We have got 10 away wins, which is good.

“But we have drawn far too many games at home.

“Is that going to be costly come the end of the season? Time will tell.

“It will be a shame if those draws cost us because I think we’re in good form at the right time.

“If we were to make the play-offs, with our recent form, we would stand a very good chance.”