THE management saga at Corsham Town has taken another twist after Nigel Tripp was reinstated as the club's first team manager last night.

After an extraordinary general meeting of the Toolstation League First Division club yesterday evening, the decision to axe Tripp was reversed, with Chris Perry taking on the role of club chairman.

The meeting was prompted after the club's committee tendered their resignations following a split over the decision to remove Tripp last month.

A committee decision had agreed that Tripp, who had been determined to stay on at the struggling Southbank club, should be sacked from his position.

Former Bath City and Trowbridge Town player Barry Thompson as approached to become their new manager, with an agreement reached in principle for him to take over from the start of next season.

Tripp, who only took over at the start of the season, subsequently guided the team to a 4-0 win at Bishop Sutton on February 11, after which splits over the decision to show him the door appeared to surface among both committee members and some club members, leading to the resignations and calling of this week's meeting.

In the meantime, former Melksham Town and Wiltshire U18s boss Mel Gingell, who was Town manager for four years up until August 2011, stepped in to pull together a squad for home matches with Roman Glass St George and local rivals Calne Town, both of which ended in defeat.

Now Tripp has been restored to his role, while Perry bids to form a new committee at the club and safeguard the future, while fulfilling this season's Toolstation League and reserve team Wiltshire League fixtures.

A statement from Perry said: "This has been a difficult three weeks for the club and I hope we can put this behind us now and look to the future.

"I would like to thank Mel Gingell and Pete Ralph for stepping in to manage the first team for the last two fixtures. It was a difficult job but they managed to put out a competitive team at very short notice.

"The remaining fixtures will be difficult for Nigel as many of the players he bought to the club have now moved on but with the help of the reserve team he is confident that we will fulfil all our remaining fixtures.

"At last night’s EGM members expressed some genuine concerns regarding the running of the club which I have taken on board and will be addressing in the next few weeks.

"My immediate aim is to stabilise the club, over the past year or so we have lost some very good people.

"Fans and volunteers are at the heart of a club like ours and I would welcome new support to help put together a strong committee that have a united vision on the best way forward.

"The fans have been very patient during this time of uncertainty and I want to assure them that I will endeavour to build a football club that they can be proud of once again.”

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