DENNIS Greene is ‘gutted’ that he is no longer the manager of St Neots Town and has told The Hunts Post he tendered his resignation to get a reaction from chairman Mike Kearns and was shocked when the move “backfired”.

“I’m gutted now because I was planning for the coming season and I wanted to be the manager of St Neots for three, four, five seasons,” said Greene.

“We had two promotions and a great relationship and it shocked me when he accepted my resignation.

“We had a disagreement with the way in which the club was moving forward. I resigned to get a reaction hoping that the following day Mike would ring me - but it backfired sensationally because he accepted.

“I’ve had the best time at St Neots - a great couple of seasons. The fans and the staff are like a family to me.

“I still want to be at St Neots if Mike wants me. I wish I could turn the clock back but I can’t”

It’s an astonishing turn of events.

Greene’s record with the club is phenomenal. In just two and a half seasons, the former Wycombe Wanderers player has guided the club to two successive championships, and he was planning a tilt at the Southern League Premier Division title this time around.

The 47 year old joined the club as Steve Lomas’s assistant in December 2009 and took over the hot seat the following February when the current St Johnstone boss left the club to further his career.

St Neots missed out on promotion from the United Counties League at the end of that campaign, but won the title at the next attempt and added the Southern League Central Division One title, seeing off the extremely strong challenge of Slough Town, in May.

Of the 126 games Greene was in charge of the club, the Saints won 97, drew six and lost just 15. That’s a 77 per cent win ratio. You don’t get stats much better than that - anywhere.

The relationship between manager and chairman seemed stronger than most in football. That was, until last Friday night when they disagreed over the way the club was moving forward.

Greene had lined up new players to replace those that had already left the club this summer - but was frustrated with the slow progress of the deals. He decided to call Kearns’s bluff.

Kearns recently told The Hunts Post that the door would remain open for Lewis Webb, Junior Kanadu, Jordan Gent and Shane Tolley, the four players that have left Rowley Park in recent weeks.

Time will tell if that sentiment applies to Greene - the most successful manager in the club’s history.