JIM Duffy says he’ll look back on his time at Morton with pride after the manager left the club by ‘mutual consent’.

The club announced they had parted ways with the 59-year-old after four years at Cappielow.

The Ton boss still had a year left on his deal after signing a two-year extension last summer.

Speaking after Saturday’s game against Inverness Caley Thistle, Duffy had said rumours he was to quit the club were ‘garbage’.

But after talks later on in the evening with the club the manager was relieved of his duties, and the former Dundee boss admitted he was surprised at the decision.

He told the Tele: “It’s one of those things that can happen in football, I wasn’t expecting it.

“All you can do is look at yourself and look at your contribution and feel as if you’ve given a positive contribution.

“From my point of view I look at the four years we’ve been there, and I feel we’ve done really well there.

“I don’t base it over the five or six games. Over a period of time I felt I’ve done really well and I’ll look back at my time with Morton with pride.”

The decision comes after the club also announced on Saturday chairman Douglas Rae was stepping down, with his son Crawford taking over.

And Duffy said with the change in chairman it was always likely he may lose his job.

Duffy added: “You’ll have to ask the club for their views on their reasons, it’s their decision to make and that’s fine.

“All I would say is that I had a fantastic relationship with the outgoing chairman who was brilliant to me, and with him stepping down as well there are changes.

“When there are changes there’s always the possibility the manager can change.

“I don’t have any issue with it, I’m not happy but it’s football and you move on with it.”

Morton finished seventh this season in the Championship, their lowest finish since Duffy achieved promotion with the Ton back in 2015. The 59-year-old also led the Championship side to the play-offs last season as well as a Scottish League Cup semi-final.

And the former Clyde manager is keen to find another job in football after taking a short break from the game.

He said: “We’ve done a lot of things at the club that have been really positive, it’s about moving forward though but that’s done and dusted now.

“If I felt as if I had let myself down or let the club down then I think that would stick in your throat even more.

“In the past if I’d lost a job I might have been kicking myself because I’ve made too many mistakes or I’ve made errors that I should have seen.

“But in this particular case I can leave knowing that I felt I’ve done a good job. 

“I don’t want to linger on things too long. 

“I wish Morton every success in the future and I look forward to getting back involved in football and with my next challenge. I’ll recharge my batteries and then look to go again.”