PAUL Doswell has vowed to step down as Eastleigh manager at the end of the season if the Spitfires are relegated.

After four fairytale seasons guiding the club up from the Wessex wilderness to the bright lights of the Conference South, Doswell says he wouldn't blame chairman Paul Murray for questioning if he is the right man to lead them towards their ultimate goal of the Football League.

Saturday's dire 2-0 defeat at Cambridge City left Eastleigh one place off the foot of the table, provoking a stinging attack from the manager, who described his highly-paid, under-achieving squad as "lazy and lacking in moral fibre."

Furthermore, he accused them of playing as if they were trying to get himself and his distinguished coaching staff of ex-Saints Mark Dennis, David Hughes and Jason Dodd the sack.

Eastleigh's struggles are a far cry from the optimism of the summer when the club became a limited company and laid out their ambitious plans for promotion to the Conference National, unveiling Dodd and fellow Saints legend Francis Benali as big-name signings.

Doswell, a former Eastleigh player and a successful local businessman with Drew Smith Homes, became one of six equity directors at the Silverlake Stadium who each guaranteed to invest £75,000 of their own money over three seasons.

Because of his financial interests in the club, many on the local non-League circuit consider his position as manager to be bullet-proof.' Not so, according to Doswell, who is not willing to see the good work of the last four seasons undone purely to stay in charge of team affairs.

He vowed: "If we go down this year, I will be stepping down too.

"I can't live on last year's success and I don't expect to be treated any differently just because I'm a club director.

"If I'm not doing a good job, that ultimately reflects on the staff and I've got players in my dressing room who switch off as soon as I start talking.

"They take no notice of the coaching staff either and if they're not prepared to listen to people like Doddsy, Hughesy and Denno, who have been there, seen it and done it in football, then maybe it's because they're just too arrogant.

"But this is the group of players we've got to get us out of trouble between now and the end of the season.

"If they do, I will still be there.

"If they don't, I won't. It's as simple as that."

Full story, see today's Daily Echo.