Work begins now

The Terras’ chief was still hopeful of seeing the club finish 21st in the Blue Square Premier thus profiting from any potential reprieve – just like Altrincham did last season.

But a 2-0 defeat at Wrexham in their final game of the season yesterday, together with a 2-1 victory for Northwich Victoria at Oxford, has left Weymouth second from bottom.

Asked whether he felt relegation was now a certainty, Ridley said: “I would imagine so and that’s very sad. We inherited a mess and the club is still a mess, but somehow over the coming weeks we’ve got to work out if we can stop it from being a mess.

“The season has ended for the playing staff but for everyone else this is where the hard work begins.”

Ridley and his fellow board members will also be kept busy in their search for a new manager with Bobby Gould’s period as interim boss now at an end. The Mail on Sunday journalist paid tribute to the efforts of Gould, adding: “We’ve been a lot better under Bobby, he’s done a fantastic job. He’s come in, taken a sow’s ear and almost made a silk purse out of it.

“We’ve not been embarrassed in any of the games we’ve played under him. There was one performance against Ebbsfleet that was disappointing but otherwise we’ve been competitive so I’m delighted with the job he’s done in the circumstances he, and us as a board, has inherited.

“Bobby coming in was always just a five-game appointment. He hasn’t kept us up but I don’t think Sir Alex Ferguson could have done it to be honest.

“We now need to look at the needs of the club in a new league, with a new budget and under new circumstances, and see what kind of character we need to manage what is a difficult situation.”

Outgoing Gould said: “We caused Wrexham problems and had two one-on-ones which rolled the wrong side of the post. We just haven’t had a clinical finisher.

"Overall I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The circumstances the club finds itself in are difficult but we tried to put up a battle.

"I’ll always have an affinity with the club and the fans, who were terrific once again, and I hope I’ve left a footprint in the careers of some of the players.”