Winchester City's director of football will quit the club tomorrow, the Daily Echo can exclusively reveal.

His shock announcement comes after the team dealt out a 10-0 thrashing last weekend.

Malone, frustrated at the club's lack of progress, will stand down tomorrow after the club's trip to Alton Town, after three years at the helm. Today fans of the club that lifted the FA Vase trophy at the end of last season said they were shocked by the news of his departure.

Speaking about last week's staggering victory, Mr Malone said; "I would rather have been at the dentists'. I walked away feeling depressed and thinking 'What's it all about?'"

The situation is a far cry from May when the club stunned the non-league world by winning the prestigious FA Vase at only the second attempt. Some 2,000 people from Hampshire went to Birmingham to cheer the team to victory.

Mr Malone is believed to have invested more than £100,000 in improving the playing side but was increasingly unhappy at the denial of promotion and the apathy of the city.

Attendances at the Denplan Ground in Abbotts Barton are averaging less than 200 a match at the moment.

See Winchester Sport section.