The Phoenix hokey-cokey!

Paul was not only the manager but is also a close friend of mine and many others at the club.

I would like to personally thank Paul for all of his hard work as First Team Manager for the past 4 years plus as Assistant Manager and Coach for 3 further seasons and prior to that a Junior Team Manager for 5 seasons.

Paul has not only dedicated his time voluntarily, he has also funded many other projects at the club.

I know Paul is gutted by our recent form and he was working very hard to try to turn the tide. He has been very unlucky with injuries, coinciding with a lack of form of some of the players in a highly improved and competitive league.

The board at Phoenix had been monitoring the situation closely and after discussions with Paul we have agreed that we need to make changes now to try and avoid relegation.

We knew that time was not on our side and we needed to sort this situation out quickly.

Therefore, we are pleased to announce Steve O’Boyle as our new First Team Manager.

Steve returns to Phoenix after leaving us 4 seasons ago.

Boylee’s record when he was the manager was fantastic. Two promotions in three seasons is a record that speaks for itself.

Boylee has remained a friend of Phoenix since he left us. When we parted before there was no massive fall out, it was mainly due to the fact we could not keep up with his ambitions at that time. But that is in the past and Boylee would be the first to admit that he regrets his decision to leave.

When we realised that Phoenix needed to make a change, we could have advertised the vacancy and probably, and had many applications. But in my mind there was only one man who truly understands our unique club and can get us out of trouble - and that is Boylee.

I think he has some unfinished business to do at Phoenix and I know that he is very keen to get back to doing what he does best.