COUNTY chairman Chris Blight said manager Peter Beadle was sacked yesterday because the club and the city deserves better than to be "wallowing" in the Blue Square South.

Blight and his fellow club directors convened a meeting yesterday morning following Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Fisher Athletic, which ended the Exiles' hopes of making the play-offs.

"As a result of that meeting it was unanimously decided that Peter's services were no longer required," said Blight.

"Peter didn't agree with the decision but he accepted his fate and as a club we wish him well in the future, I think we both learned a lot from this experience," he added.

Beadle, who was not under contract at Spytty Park, was in bullish mood after Saturday's defeat, insisting that the club had made progress under him and that he would start to plan for next season until he was told otherwise.

But Blight claimed that the board had not seen a return on their investment in the squad and that a play-off place was a minimum requirement.

"I want to see this club in the Conference as quickly as possible and we've missed out again," he explained. "We expected a play-off place and we've finished ninth in the table. After all the financial assistance we have offered that is not good enough.

"A city like Newport deserves better, we shouldn't be wallowing in the Conference South."

Blight also revealed that the board had offered to fund the purchase of a striker in March but Beadle had rejected the money.

"We have been letting too many goals in and just not scoring enough, and members of the board offered Peter money to strengthen up front but we were told that he was happy with the squad," he added. "We felt we offered Peter all the tools to get the job done but it didn't work out.

"The crowd had got on Peter's back but this is not a fan-based decision, it is purely a common-sense business decision.

"We've been beaten by sides who have much smaller budgets than us and the board decided that we needed another manager's consideration to take us up to where we feel we belong."

Scott Young's future as assistant manager remains uncertain.

"We'll have to wait and see if the new man wants to have Scott on board," said Blight. "Or he could even be a contender for the top job."