CHIEFS at Bromsgrove Sporting have confirmed that after a ‘short discussion’ it was decided a contract for first team manager Paul Smith was ‘not needed at the present time’.
At the supporters’ forum in January, chairman Mike Burke confirmed a contract would be offered to the former Studley boss and that it was, at the time, in the hands of his solicitors.
When The Standard asked Smith about the deal last Wednesday, he revealed he would be ‘exercising his due diligence’ and have his own legal team read the paperwork before discussing it with board members at last night’s (Tuesday) executive meeting.
A statement released by Sporting after the meeting said: “After a short discussion it was agreed by all that a contract for Paul was not needed at the present time.”
Burke told the Standard today (Wednesday): “This was Paul’s first contract offer and we have had active board meetings to make sure it was legally sound.
“The contract had been with Paul and his solicitors for a few weeks to mull over but we did not expect 100 per cent agreement right away.
“The board and Paul want what is best for this club as it deserves to be at a higher level.
“We do not want to stay at this level as the fan base is too big for it and we are backing Paul to go for promotion.
“Paul is using the resources he has available to him very well and perhaps a contract is not required right now as it might distract from what we are trying to achieve.”
He added the contract offer had not been withdrawn and was hopeful discussions would continue.
Boss Smith said he was disappointed with the meeting, more so with the content of it and admitted after reading the contract some alarm bells started to ring.
“The less said about the meeting the better,” he added.
“We did not even get round to discussing the few details of it. I think the only reason it was offered was because the fans were pushing for it.
“There is a huge gulf in our vision of how the club moves forward and all I want to do now is knuckle down and try and win a second successive promotion for the fans.”
Smith confirmed he would sit down in the summer and have a ‘long, hard look’ at what he was going to do in the future.
