Ballinamallard captain James McKenna was disappointed to see Gavin Dykes step down from the manager’s position and he feels that the players must take responsibility for Dykes decision to step down at the weekend.
A 4-0 defeat at Ferney Park to Ards left the Mallards still seven points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership table and Dykes stepped down citing the need for a new voice to try and get a bounce out of the current squad.
“It is very disappointing and personally I think he should have stayed and seen out the last eight games. I had a very good relationship with Gavin and that’s the reason I went back this last couple of seasons so it is difficult to see him leave,” said McKenna. “I’ve been at the club ten years and it is only the second manager I’ve played under. It’s not a club that sacks their managers and everybody that I’ve spoken to in the committee and everywhere else was still behind him so it is just a pity that he felt that this was the right time to go. I can understand his reasons and I think they are purely for the benefit of the club. I don’t think he has quit for his own good, it is in the hope that somebody else might come in and lift things over the remaining games,” he added.
McKenna accepted that the performance on Saturday was not near good enough as the Mallards folded and slipped to a heavy defeat.
“You would just be lost for words after a performance like Saturday. It was as bad as I’ve seen it in all the years I’ve been at the club. You could feel it in the crowd and around the club, it was a really dark day and I had a feeling after the game when I came in that he was going to go. In fairness, you can see why Gavin felt it was time he should go even though I don’t agree with his decision,” he said.
And the captain believes that the players have to take responsibility for the situation that they find themselves in.
“The players have completely let him down, not on purpose or went out to intentionally let him down, we haven’t gone out and played poorly to get the manager sacked, it’s not that at all, everybody was giving everything for Gavin but performances have been poor. I can’t put my finger on why we haven’t been performing and Gavin and the management team are the same. You try and do the right things on a Tuesday and a Thursday and training has been good and every week I’m telling everybody that we are going to win on the Saturday and then you get a performance like we did last week,” he stated.
There is no time now though for dwelling on things and McKenna feels that it is vital that a new man is put in position as soon as possible to try and get the players lifted for the run in.
“Somebody needs to come in straight away, there isn’t the time to dwell on it. Somebody needs to come now for the eight games and see if they can get a reaction from the squad of players.”
Indeed, he still believes that the Mallards can get themselves out of the trouble they are in.
“It’s not the time for inquests about what went wrong in the season or whatever else, the season is not finished and one win changes the whole landscape going into the split. We went to Glenavon last year on the back of five or six defeats and won 1-0 when nobody expected us to and we are going to need something like that this Saturday. As hard as it is, and I’m as disappointed as anyone for the way it has worked out for Gavin, we as players just need to get ready to go again for Saturday,” he said.
McKenna does stress though that the players now need to show character and fight for the jersey over the remainder of the season.
“People paying in to watch performances like Saturday are entitled to criticise the team and the management and I think one thing that has been questioned after Saturday is the players character, and rightly so. 
“You have to go out and show you have character and show that you are at least fighting and on Saturday we hadn’t any of those. For the people that support the club and for our own personal pride for the remaining eight games of the season, what happened on Saturday can’t happen again. We have to go out and fight and show that it is important to us as players. Coming out of Saturday you don’t feel good about yourself knowing that you have let people down and let yourself down. We have to work now to put that right and show people that we care about the jersey,” he stated.