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Ling Had To Put Family First By Stepping Down As Robins Boss
Martin Ling's departure from Swindon Town Football Club was a decision taken in light of previous health issues, the club have today confirmed.
Ling resigned from his position as Town manager on Tuesday morning, less than two months at the helm.
Since his unveiling at the beginning of November, Ling had overseen a turn-around in the fortunes of the Robins, who had found themselves dwelling precariously in the lower echelons of League One.
Five wins from eight games would arrive during Ling's tenure, in a short period which would see the Robins rise to fifteenth and pick up a memorable 4-0 away victory at the expense of Chesterfield along the way.
The rich run of form saw Ling nominated for the accolade of League One manager of the month - an award he would narrowly be beaten to by Peterborough boss Graham Westley.
In an official statement club chairman Lee Power confirmed Ling's resignation came as a shock, but wishes the manager the very best in both his recovery and future endeavours.
"Martin rang me yesterday morning to let me know that he was resigning as manager. I was both shocked and extremely saddened but fully respected his decision," said Power.
"In a very short period of time, Martin has done an excellent job by winning five of his eight league games in charge and moving us out of and away from the League 1 relegation zone. Martin has proved that he is still a very good football manager but sometimes in life, things are far more important than football and Martin felt that the stresses of the job were not good for his health going forward."
Power confirmed Ling's decision was taken in light of previous health issues, and that he did not feel it was right to continue in the role for the sake of his family.
"With his previous health issues, he felt that staying in the job was a risk he could not take for the sake of his family. Everyone at Swindon Town fully respects his decision and he will always be welcome back at the County Ground."
Power added: "I have not spent as much time with Martin as I would have liked during his time in charge nor have I had the opportunity to nurture and develop a working relationship with him as I have been out of the country for most of his tenure.
"However, I would like to place on record my personal thanks to Martin. He is a football man through and through and is a very honest, hard-working man who loves Swindon Town Football Club. I saw Martin this morning and he asked me to thank his staff, the players and the supporters for their backing during his time at the club."
Ling's son Sam took to social media platform Twitter yesterday to add clairty to the situation:
He wants to thank everyone at Swindon for the support he was given but his family and health are more important than anything
— Sam Ling (@SamLing_) December 29, 2015
Swindon have gone on to confirm 'In the short term, Luke Williams will be in charge of the first team starting with Saturday’s game at Port Vale'.
Power will now undertake a search for a successor to Ling: "The search for a new permanent manager has already begun and I hope to have the new man in place as soon as possible," he said.
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