HYDE United have begun a search for a new manager following the resignation of Dave McGurk for ‘personal and family reasons’.
Such is McGurk’s high esteem that Hyde’s board of directors, in thanking him for his hard work over the last five years, asked him to reconsider his decision which he refused to do.
And McGurk added he will help Hyde find his replacement making recommendations to the board.
The 38-year-old has also quit his full-time job with The Modern Milk Man to take a complete break to re-evaluate his life.
McGurk, speaking to The Correspondent, said: “When Covid hit I started the job and within six months had risen to a high level within the company.
“It has been 100 miles an hour for the past year and the job and managing the football club has meant working 70 hours a week.
“Trying to juggle both, I felt I was not giving my best to either and my family was the deciding factor as they were suffering.”
McGurk, who is also involved in a football coaching business, admitted the tipping point came about one month before the start of the new Northern Premier League campaign.
He said: “We were hit by a massive number of injuries, and I worked all week to replace them alongside my full-time job.
“I was firefighting, making calls, organising training sessions and attending games and my children had not seen me for a week.
“Something had to give, and I have decided to take a complete break for a couple of months. It is time to spent time with my family and re-assess. I know I have made the right decision.”
McGurk denied that defeats in Hyde’s first three league matches had any bearing on his decision.
He explained: “I decided to go before the loss at Bamber Bridge but did not want to leave on the back of a 4-1 defeat.
“That is why I delayed tendering my resignation until after the game at Matlock Town on Saturday (August 21).”
McGurk added he was confident he would have transformed Hyde’s fortunes had he remained at Ewen Fields.
He explained: “There is a good group of players. The new manager may need to bring in two or three more players, but nothing more.
“Two or three may potentially leave but there is not a lot that needs to be done.”
In a statement, Hyde’s board of directors said it was ‘with great regret’ they accepted McGurk’s resignation.
McGurk, who played league football for Darlington and York City, joined Hyde in 2016 as assistant manager/player to Darren Kelly.
The highlights were winning promotion to the NPL, premier division in 2018 and the FA Cup run to the first round proper and a live televised home game against MK Dons.
Following a management reshuffle, McGurk took over as first-team manager in the summer of 2019 and guided the club to the semi finals of both the NPL Cup and Cheshire Senior Cup before Covid resulted in the 2019-20 season being made null and void.
McGurk, in a statement on the Hyde website, said: “It’s been an emotional couple of days as I’ve said my goodbyes to staff, players and directors.
“I feel it’s time to hand over the role as manager to someone else and I decided this before the game on Saturday at Matlock. It’s a decision I needed to make for myself and my family.
“Being manager of a part time club is a very hard job. I’ve loved every minute, but the last few months have proved really difficult to get a work/life/family balance. I simply can’t put the time or energy into the job to meet the demands that I expect of myself as a manager.
“I plan to take a couple of months with my family to recharge and I’ll come back into football with a new challenge at some point.
“As assistant manager with Daz (Darren Kelly) we created some great memories with promotion and the FA Cup run.
“I never got to complete a season as manager with Covid hitting but what the players did in my first year was incredible with the budget we had. We were gutted when it ended as we were flying in the league and had the two semi-finals still to play.
“There’s a great group of lads there now and I’m sure the first win will come this week and there will be many more from there.
“There are too many individual people to thank, I hope they all know who they are. In particular though my staff have been everything I could wish for in terms of their roles and support. The directors and volunteers, what you do at this football club to keep it running is amazing. The fans, as a first time manager I needed your support from the off and I got it. Thank you.
“It’s been a brilliant five years of my life and I now wish Hyde and everyone associated with the club the very best of luck going forward. I’ve made a lot of friends there and I’ll be down as soon as I get the opportunity.”
Assistant manager John McCombe has agreed to take temporary charge until a new appointment is made.