Richard Brady has called time on his managerial career at Leatherhead, but that does not mean he is walking out the Fetcham Grove gates completely.

The 33-year-old announced last week that the home game against Harrow Borough on Saturday would be his last in charge of the first team - assistant manager Mike Sandmann has replaced him, with Brady working alongside him in an advisory role.

A 2-1 defeat was not the send-off he would have been hoping for, and while the results means the Tanners have won just once in the past seven Ryman Premier League games, Brady insists results were not the catalyst behind his decision.

He said: “I am not leaving the club, I have loved my time there – but my new family commitments mean that my priorities have changed.

“With the little one just hitting one-year-old, I cannot commit to the nitty gritty of being first team manager.

“You don’t realise how much having a family changes everything. Being a manager is 24-7 with constant phone calls, training and matches, that you end up not being there for the family and they suffer as a result.”

Wimbledon Times:

The way we were: Richard Brady has a chat with a lino in 2011, during his first season in charge at Fetcham Grove

He added: “I am moving upstairs in a way, still working with the academy and the U21s, but I will be there to help Mike [Sandman] in any way I can.

“Being a manager can be a very lonely business, you’re like a one-man band sometimes and I would have loved to have someone who can offer some help.

“I won’t interfere, or undermined Mike, but if he wants some advice and input, then I am there.”

The Tanners have dropped to within six points of the Ryman Premier League dropzone, but Brady believes Sandmann is the man to turn things around.

“I knew a couple of months ago that this would be coming and the results were irrelevant in a way, but I cannot deny we had got stuck in a rut,” he said.

“But all we need is a win or two and things can turn around very quickly, and I know the players are right behind Mike, and that he will be successful.”

He added: “He has a wonderful chairman to work with. That is one of the most memorable things about my time as manager, that strong relationship with Peter [Ashdown].

“He was always supportive, and we’d be on the phone four or five times a day.

“As a team we’ve had ups and downs, promotions and getting to within one game of the FA Cup first round proper.

“But my relationship with Peter have been the key.”

Sandmann’s first game in charge is a trip to Farnborough on Saturday.