JEWSON SOCCER: Alan Dilloway has stood down as manager of Ipswich Wanderers.He feels it was his only option after failing to obtain a directive from the club about his future.

By Elvin King

ALAN Dilloway has stood down as manager of Ipswich Wanderers.

He feels it was his only option after failing to obtain a directive from the club about his future.

"I have been given no indication about where the club wants to go," said Dilloway today. "So I stood down and have put the ball firmly in their court. I now wait to hear from them."

Wanderers just escaped relegation after finishing third from bottom of the Premier Division of the Jewson League – but Dilloway says that it was mainly because of injuries that results were poor.

"There is no hiding from the fact that it was an indifferent season," added Dilloway, who took over 12 months ago having previously led the club to the First Division championship in 1998.

"But in the circumstances to survive in the top flight is a fantastic achievement. We did it thanks to the efforts of youngsters from the Wanderers PASE Scheme.

"The way the club is run I had to exist on a small squad backed up by players from the scheme. But injuries to Leon Bell, Lenny Pack and others, plus Glynn Roberts and Sean Bell being tempted away to other clubs left me very short of senior players.

"This is the main reason we struggled. It was no fault of mine that it all went horrible wrong. The club should have made it plain a month ago what their intentions are.

"I have been left in limbo, and the best option is to stand down. The chairman is away at the moment but the ball is in their court."

Dilloway says that whoever takes the job will have to work closely with Colwyn Rowe, who is director of football at the club.

"There is no way round it, and I have always enjoyed a good relationship with Colwyn. We have always got on well," he said.

Rowe said today that he would be standing by Dilloway. "I don't think it is necessarily the end of Alan at Humber Doucy Lane," said Rowe.

"Things have gone wrong, but he has worked very hard. He has a number of strong attributes and I do not want to lose him.

"From my point of view I would like to see Alan stay, possibly in tandem with someone else."

Former Ipswich Town midfield player Ian Collard has been mentioned as a possible new manager for Wanderers, who have played at times this season with up to six teenagers in their first team.

The PASE scheme is a full time one with over 20 boys receiving full time football and academic education at Wanderers' well-appointed Humber Doucy Lane ground.

Two of the lads, on contract to the club, have been selected to play for the national PASE scheme select side against Leicester City youth at Filbert Street on Saturday. Jamie Baker and Jermaine Harewood have been regulars in the Wanderers first team this campaign.