Ottery St Mary Football Club chairman Mikey Ringer has one less job at the club following the news that he is to stand down from managing the Ottery ladies team.

The top man at Washbrook Meadow had made the decision to stand down long before Sunday’s 21-0 defeat in the Women’s FA Cup with the Otterettes outplayed at Plymouth-based MAP Ladies.

Speaking in midweek a few days after both the cup defeat and his decision being made public, he said: “It’s the right time. Infact, I had almost out stayed my welcome in terms of managing the ladies because I have always said a manager has a four year stint in them before they become ‘stale’ and both the manager and the team will benefit from new ideas that come from a change at the helm.”

He continued: “I had been thinking about this since the start of lockdown when, like everyone, I was left with too much time on my hands and so mulled over so many topics.

“Close friends, and others, suggested I do not act in haste and, having both played in, and managed, men’s teams in the FA Cup competition I was so keen to complete a ‘hat-trick’ and lead the Otterettes into their historic first FA Cup tie.

“The fact the game ended as it did, certainly result wise, has nothing to do with a decision to stand down that was probably signed and sealed months before. Only a few of my confidants knew I was going regardless of the outcome of the cup tie. I wanted nothing to get in the way of what the ladies were doing.

“The tie itself was always going to be extra tough. We’d lost our regular goalkeeper to injury before the game. They [MAP Ladies] are a powerful side and we went into the competition as the lowest ranked of all the sides playing in it.

“The team gave, as they always have done, their absolute all and I cannot thank or indeed, praise them enough for their undying support, enthusiasm and effort from day one of our time together. They have been a wonderful group to work with and I am handing over a developing team who will only go from strength to strength and will, indeed, no doubt prosper under the guidance and management of someone with new ideas and ways.”

He rounded things off by saying: “I have no regrets, none whatsoever and, hand on heart, I can probably say I’d have done nothing differently. It’s just that I have ‘’done my bit’ in terms of the management side and now I can focus on other matters.

“I am not going to be too far away and, as chairman of our main club and also vice-chairman of the ladies league, I am staying very involved. Indeed, by standing down from being in charge of the Otterettes, I can now give more time to the more general matter of the ladies league and look to help push that to new heights which will, hopefully, be to the benefit of all the ladies’ teams across the area and the league.”