ALLAN McManus insists chairman Douglas Rae's call to axe him and James Grady is 'one of the worst decisions he has ever made'.

The caretaker duo were charged with keeping the club in the First Division, following the departure of Davie Irons in September with the club bottom of the table.

In the end, they managed to steer the Cappielow side to eighth, pulling clear of the relegation play-offs with a 2-1 victory over Ayr United on the final day of the season.

McManus feels he and Grady more than fulfilled the remit they were given at the club and says they are gutted their achievements did not earn them a longer tilt at the job.

He told the Tele: "Speaking for the both of us, we were absolutely devastated. We worked to achieve the remit given to us.

"People said it was to stay in the division, but we were led to believe staying out of the play-offs would mean the job was as good as ours. Things changed and, for whatever reason, that was no longer the case.

"We feel this is one of the biggest mistakes the chairman has ever made. When we went in, the club was at its lowest ebb possibly ever, with regards to players and staff "We managed to get everyone pulling in the right direction. We got to where we wanted to be in terms of hitting the first target. And we were under no illusion as to what had to be done to take the club forward.

"We had plans in place which were ready to be implemented right through pre-season and beyond.

"We had players lined up who were desperate to come to the club and we believe that if we had been given the opportunity to bring them in we would have been at the top end of the table next season.

"We had real momentum and were really excited about where we wanted to take the club.

"The club have said they are looking for an experienced management team but I will be very interested to see whether who comes in has more experience of the First Division than myself and James . If it works out for the benefit of the club it is the right decision but we don't believe it is." McManus and Grady had planned to enter coaching for a long time and their first taste of front-line management has only sharpened their desire to experience it again.

McManus added: "Not many guys get the chance to go in and take a job like that. The other day myself and James sat down and talked about all the things we had learned.

"We weren't thrown into the job. We had always spoke about working together in coaching and that is our ambition in life.

"To get a taste of it has made us even more hungry to experience it again. We were in a unique position in that we almost live in each other's pockets and trust each other with our lives.

"We would like to thank everyone at Morton for their support and the fans for their backing. We also thank the players, who we can't say one bad thing about.

"They are such an honest bunch of boys and, in some ways, maybe that is their downfall. Maybe they could do with one or two rogues in there."