Former boss Setchell opens up on severity of budget cuts that led to his Steelmen resignation
Gary Setchell has lifted the lid on the severity of the budget cuts enforced on him and his Corby Town players that led to his decision to quit as Steelmen boss - and has also revealed his sadness at having to walk away from the club having not achieved his promotion ambition.
It has been a traumatic and troubling few weeks at Steel Park, with little pre-Christmas cheer on offer as Setchell, his assistant Darren Edey and a clutch of key players have all walked away after being asked to take a second pay cut in a fortnight.
Setchell has revealed the final straw came when he, the players and the backroom staff all effectively had their pay cut by 30 per cent, which proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
In a frank and honest interview, Setchell outlined how the situation ultimately unfolded in the past month or so, and made it clear he had little option to leave the club, admitting he did not want to be 'the fall guy' if things started to go wrong on the pitch.
"The agreed budget for the season was £4,000 (a week), and that included everything, the manager, staff, players, physios, kit woman, cleaners, everything," said Setchell.
"Just after the cup run (in the FA Trophy), the club wanted to cut the budget from £4,000 to £2,800, which is a 30 per cent pay cut, so I went to the lads.
"The lads didn't want to, but they came back and said they would take a 15 per cent pay cut, if we can try and keep it all together.
"They did that, and some of the lads could already have been earning more money elsewhere as there are a lot of clubs who have offered them more money, but they stayed with me, stayed with Corby Town, because it is a great club with a massive fanbase.
"We had a good time last season and we were having a good time this year until after the Kidderminster game in the Trophy.
"The next set of wages were set to be paid and there was a shortfall again, and I understand Paul (Glass) and James (Longley) put a lot of their own money in, but with a club the size of Corby, there shouldn't be a shortfall.
"The club should be able to sustain a top six budget at Step 4, and should even be able to maintain a mid-table Step 3 budget.
"But they came to me and said they are going to have to go to the original cut to £2,800, so I then toyed with letting a couple of players go, so I did the figures and even with letting a couple go, I couldn't make it work.
"I went to the club and said if they make the budget £3,100 I will let a couple of players go, and I will do my best to make it work. They told me to ring them in the morning. I did that, and they said it has to go to £2,800, so I felt I was backed into a corner.
"We have 16 or 17 players, six members of staff, and £2,800 between 22 people is very difficult, so I decided to step down.
"I let the players know the full facts and truth, and I have been transparent with them from day one.
"The football club now finds itself in a position where the players have been very loyal to a manager who has been very loyal to them.
"One thing I would like to get on record that that players have been paid every penny they have been owed since I have been at the football club, everything has been paid
"But with the pay cuts, and the fact the lads were already underpaid compared to what they can get at other clubs with real money, they were probably looking at being 30 or 40 per cent down on what they feel their value is.
"There were one or two people at the club who didn't think we were getting value for money.
"But the £4,000 worth of players we had, in a month's time that same group will probably be earning £6,000, that's how much value for money I think we had, and I know what some of the lads have been offered."
A clutch of players have already announced they have left the Steelmen, including the likes of Gary Stohrer, Jake Laban, Tyrone Lewthwaite and Spencer Edwards, and Setchell has urged supporters to understand their situation.
"The players were loyal to me, they were loyal to the club thought the budget cut, and people can't have a go at them thinking they are just jumping ship for the money," he said.
"They have seen the manager they play for backed into a corner where he can't continue, after I had begged them to take a pay cut that they agreed to, so I think the players should come out of this with a lot of credit."
If Setchell had agreed to the 30 per cent budget cut and stayed on as boss, then he is all too aware that it would soon be him in the spotlight if things started to go awry, and that he would be placed in a difficult position.
"I have been a fall guy before for a football club, where I was hung out to dry after getting a promotion," said Setchell.
"The budget was terrible and the remit was to stay up, but we shouldn't have had a prayer of doing thay with the budget we had.
"I think we ended up with seven wins and about 19 draws that kept us up, and I always said that was probably one of my biggest achievements in football, keeping Wisbech in the Northern League that season, it was a brutal division.
"But I promised myself I would never do that again, I was driving mini-buses, I was doing this, doing that, and I said I wouldn't do that again."
January would have seen Setchell mark his third anniversary in charge, and he admits to regret that he couldn't quite get the team over the promotion line following their play-off final defeat last season.
"I am just disappointed and would like to apologise that I couldn't get them over the line to get to Step 3," he said, before adding: "But it does make you wonder where we would be if we had got promoted!
"Maybe that was a blessing in disguise for the club."