Matt Howard says he is completely baffled after being sacked as manager of Carshalton Athletic.

The Robins issued a statement today (Thursday) stating that they have agreed to part company, but Howard insisted he would not have walked away without being sacked.

He becomes the fifth manager sacked by chairman Paul Dipre in four seasons, and his successor will be the club’s seventh in the same period.

In that time, the club have fallen from the Ryman Premier League to avoiding relegation to the Combined Counties League last season by just three points.

Howard and his assistant Luke Garrard had steadied the Robins ship, and they leave with the club four points off the Ryman Division One South play-offs.

However, last weekend’s 7-1 drubbing at Ramsgate made for nasty reading - although Howard insists he never saw the sack coming.

“It came completely out of the blue, but he [Paul Dipre] is the owner and he can do what he wants,” he said.

“He gave us a brief at the beginning of the season and we were working to that to the letter – in terms of budget and playing academy players in the first team we were surpassing it.

“He told me when I took the job that he would like to make the play-offs, but most of all he wanted there to be an improvement on last season.

“We have got more points now than we had from the whole of last season, and we’re four points off the play-offs.

“So am I shocked at being sacked? Massively. Do I understand it? No I don’t.

“The reason he gave me was that he didn’t feel the club was moving in the direction he wanted the club to be moving - my only guess is that he wants the club to be moving to the Combined Counties.”

Paul Dipre was unavailable for comment, but the club statement read: “We have today agreed to part company with Matt Howard.

"We know that we speak for players, fans and staff in thanking Matt, Luke and his bench staff for their contribution to our club this season."