The Fizzers parted company with Diprima after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Sheerwater in Combined Counties Division One.

Speaking exclusively to the News, Dean said: “We needed to make a change. We cannot take the risk of staying down in Division One for another season.

“There were a number of differences of opinion with Salv on approaching the job.

“We’ve never shied away from making difficult decisions when we’ve had to.

“This was in the best interest of the club going forward.” Dean confirmed that Diprima’s position at the club had been under scrutiny since the end of last season.

“Most clubs would have sacked the manager immediately after the relegation but given the confusion surrounding it, we gave Salv the benefit of the doubt,” he explained.

“We’re quite pleased with the early season results but if you put it into context with the final two months of last season and the reality of being relegated and having to mitigate the impact of that, we’re obviously disappointed.

“It’s generally known we’ve had too high a turnover of players and assistants working with Salv and that affects the stability of the team and the players.” He added: “The priority is the league position and doing everything we can to get promoted.” Dean confirmed he is looking internally for a managerial successor to Diprima and is confident that the current backroom staff and players will stick together in the next few weeks. “We’re not rushing to make a decision,” he said. “We’ve got some extremely good people in the club at the moment.” He also hinted that Sandhurst are looking at a new continental-style management structure with a business manager helping the organisation and admin of the first team alongside a head coach.