Beard sacked by Tooting & Mitcham

A seventh defeat in their last 10 league matches on Saturday, a 4-2 defeat at Bury Town, finally proved too much for the club's board with Tooting teetering just one place above the Ryman Premier League relegation places.

On Monday, Beard, who had already used 40 different players this season, insisted he could save the Terrors from the drop but less than 24 hours later he was being ushered out the door along with his assistant Geoff Pitcher as his 20-month reign came to an end.

"It was on the cards for the last couple of months," he said.

"It is down to the results, they haven't been good enough and for one reason or another we have not been winning games.

"It has been a struggle.

"Last season, we didn't have a lot of money and we worked hard with a whole lot of youngsters and, this year, too many things have been going on behind the scenes and affecting things on the pitch.

"It was time for a change and obviously there have been a lot of players coming and going and so the next one to look at is the manager.

"You always believe you can do it and turn it around and I thought the last 10 days we brought in a couple of youngsters in and things picked up but the results were not there.

"Hopefully, they will pick up some points and get away from the danger zone.

"I love the club, it has the potential to be a fantastic non-league club, all the facilities are there.

"It is just a case of getting the right balance on the pitch and it is just unfortunate I will not be part of that."

Tooting also announced on Tuesday that Joe Sealey has been appointed chief executive office of T&M Sports & Leisure Ltd, the company which owns the Terrors.

Graham Dormer, a representative for the investors currently supporting the club's playing budget, has been named vice chairman of the club with Bill Hill as chairman.

A caretaker manager will be announced this week to take care of the team when they host Hendon on Saturday before a new manager is appointed.