BRADFORD Town chairman Mark Hodkinson has admitted the club hierarchy were left with no option but to part company with manager Rob Mallett after a dramatic downturn in results at Trowbridge Road.

Mallett departed the club by mutual consent on Monday evening following four straight league and cup defeats, with Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by Shepton Mallet proving the final straw.

He had taken over the reins at the Toolstation League Premier Division club in the summer, following the successful tenure of Danny Greaves, who moved on to Southern League Frome Town in the summer after guiding Bradford to a club-best fourth place last season.

Mallett made a fine start, winning four of his first six league games and overseeing progress in the FA Cup, but the wheels spectacularly came off as they lost successive league games to Wellington, Bridgwater and Mallet and were dumped out of the Les Phillips Cup by Cheddar.

Hodkinson says that forced the club’s hand, although he insisted it was not a hasty decision so early in the campaign.

“It wasn’t a rash decision, or a snap one,’’ he told the Wiltshire Times.

“We looked at it over a couple of weeks and thought ‘is this going to change?’ I think the Shepton game was the one that really brought it home to us that we couldn’t really go on.

“Something had to give. Whether the players weren’t playing for him, or he was doing the wrong tactics or a bit of both, we just felt we were in freefall.

“We started off (the season) fairly well and we only just lost to Paulton Rovers in the FA Cup. But after that the performances just dipped.

“I saw things on Saturday (against Mallet) that I haven’t seen in 20-odd years at the club. The performances were so lacklustre and had no direction.

“Unfortunately, losing becomes a habit and I’m not placing the whole blame at Rob Mallett’s feet. It’s not all his fault.

“I had a very difficult conversation on Monday with Rob and John Phillips, the vice-chairman, and I feel very sorry for him. At the end of the day, the players have let him down. He is a gentleman but was very disappointed.’’

Hodkinson added: “I spoke to the players on Wednesday and said they need to have a long look at themselves. We need to see a reaction from them to see that they have got what it takes at this level.

“Yes, a lot of people will look at it and say he hasn’t had any time. But we’ve got two away games coming up and if we had the same performances in those, we’re then plummeting down towards the bottom of the league.

“For our club, we just can’t afford that. I’m not saying we’re world-beaters or we’re going to win the league, that was never our aim this year, but we want to finish at least in the top half.

“Over the last couple of seasons the average gates have gone up and I heard mumblings on Saturday to say ‘if it’s like this, I’m not going to come again.’ Purely financially, we can’t afford for supporters to start to drift away.

“It’s their money that keeps clubs like ours going.’’

Assistant boss Robbie Simmonds took training on Wednesday and will lead Town at Chipping Sodbury on Saturday, with a further away game at Wellington to follow as Town plot their next managerial move.