Experienced manager reveals the moment he realised he had to leave the Old Spotted Dog club

After leaving Hackney Wick by mutual consent on August 13, Chris Davis has revealed it just didn’t feel like London Bari.

The UEFA B Licence holder was manager of Bari for three seasons before the club made the decision to merge with Hackney Wick this summer.

It was a move which didn’t work out for Davis, as he left after just four games, but the experienced coach will look back fondly on his overall time at the Old Spotted Dog venue.

He said: “I did thoroughly enjoy and have the best times with London Bari and I have no regrets. I told the Hackney Wick chairman Tony Ray all of this. and he said he didn’t want to lose me, but I admitted it wasn’t about the club anymore, it was more about me.

“It was more personal than anything else, so once I made the decision I let my coaches know and let it be up to them to decide if they wanted to stay or go.

“On Saturday I made the decision and then it came out on the Sunday and as soon as it did, my phone didn’t stop ringing. People were getting in contact with me left, right and centre and asking what is going on and why I waited for the season to start?

“There is a lot of talk everywhere, but all I have said to people is what I have said now. I wanted a different challenge and the project taking place at Hackney Wick is completely different to what I was doing at London Bari, so it was time I moved on and left.”

Davis revealed he knew it was time for a change after watching his now old team lose 4-1 at Sawbridgeworth Town on August 12.

The former Bari boss went home after the match and the writing was already on the wall for him.

“We came back from the Sawbridgeworth game and there was something that just wasn’t right,” said Davis.

“I came home and didn’t feel the way I used to feel when we would lose a game. I used to go home and not eat, not talk to anybody and just stay in my own little world, but I didn’t feel like that, so obviously something wasn’t right.

“Maybe it was because it was a different project for me, so what I had actually planned with London Bari had all changed. It didn’t seem like my project anymore, so the philosophy I had was totally different to what Hackney Wick had.

“I thought I would speak to my partner and see what she said and because I had been with Bari for three to four years and in football for nine years coaching, I knew what she would say.

“We both knew I needed a rest, so it was just a conviction of what I knew in my head anyway and then I told Tony my situation.”