Mansfield Town sack manager David Flitcroft after narrow play-off defeat

Mansfield Town have sacked manager David Flitcroft two days after his play-off semi-final defeat to Newport County.

The club announced that Flitcroft’s contract at the One Call Stadium had been terminated with academy manager and ex-Mansfield player John Dempster taking charge immediately.

After squandering numerous chances for Mansfield to gain automatic promotion, the Stags eventually missed out by three points due to a final day defeat to MK Dons and were ultimately defeated in a penalty shootout by Newport County in the League Two play-off semi-final.

In a statement, chairman John Radford said:

“It is with a heavy heart that we part company with David and his staff, however, the decision has been made with the best interests of Mansfield Town Football Club in mind.

“Despite a season of progress, we were unable to fulfil our primary objective of earning promotion to League One, despite having a number of games to achieve this ambition.

“We thank David and his staff for their tireless endeavours and part ways amicably. David and his staff have been highly professional throughout their tenures and we wish them genuine success in the future.”

Head of football operations Greg Abbott, assistant manager Ben Futcher, goalkeeping coach Ian Pledger and performance analyst Dan Ashby have also been released from their positions.

Commenting on the new appointment of John Dempster as manager, Mr Radford said:

“In John, we have a man who is considered to be one of the brightest and most innovative young coaches in football.

“His success with the youth team over the past few seasons has been remarkable and he now deserves the opportunity to manage the first team.

“John will have our full backing. He is appointed as manager of a club which is widely considered as one of the best operations in football.

“His rebuilding process starts today and we encourage all Stags’ supporters to welcome John into the position as a new era at One Call Stadium gets under way.”

Many Mansfield supporters are left shocked by the decision made by the chairman but with Flitcroft ultimately not achieving promotion to League One for the second successive year, Radford has chosen Dempster to take on that task.

This is set to be Dempster’s first taste of management at a club who he made 81 appearances for between 2011 and 2015. The Under 18’s side Dempster coached this season finished in fourth place in the Youth Alliance League and also narrowly missed out on glory just like the first-team.