Jimmy Nicholl felt he had no option but to resign as Cowdenbeath manager because he believes he had not been ‘good enough’ in the post.
The former Northern Ireland defender, who in March was appointed his country’s assistant-manager, quit on Monday after the Blue Brazil were relegated from the Championship following a defeat by Alloa Athletic on Saturday.
It was the second time in his two spells at Central Park that Nicholl had suffered demotion from Scottish football’s second tier, having been unable to keep the club in the first division in 2011 before leaving for Kilmarnock.
The Fifers needed just one more victory at the weekend to guarantee their place in next season’s Championship but, with relegation costing an estimated £170,000, the ex-Manchester United and Rangers full-back reckons he had to carry the can for the disappointment of the club slipping into financial uncertainty in League One.
Paying tribute to the work of chairman Donald Findlay and the rest of the board, Nicholl said: “It was a difficult season, a very disappointing season, and I felt it was the right decision to make.
“The thing that annoys me most is the fantastic work the chairman and the board have put in, and we were just one win away from the future of the whole club being in a much better position than it is now.
“I’m not happy with that and I’m not proud of how things turned out. I’ve let a lot of people down and I’ve not been good enough in the last year because the team’s not been good enough to stay in the league.
“It’s a real, real disappointment because of the hard work that’s been put in at boardroom level.
“The manager always has to look at himself. You can’t pass the buck on to the players or the directors.
“I’ve not been good enough in my job and if I’ve not been good enough I don’t deserve to be in a job.”
The 59-year-old has been linked with a move to Queen of the South as assistant to manager James Fowler, who he worked with as a player during his spell as No 2 at Kilmarnock and who he also had on loan at Cowdenbeath last season.