A BITTER war of words has erupted between Bromsgrove Rovers chairman Tom Herbert and former manager Duane Darby.

Herbert issued a statement earlier this week in response to Darby’s comments in a national non-league football newspaper, in which he expressed his discontent during his spell as boss of the Victoria Ground club.

The chairman hit out at Darby for claiming he did not enjoy his time at Rovers and accused him of failing to deal with a ‘difficult’ atmosphere in the dressing room.

Following his sacking in August, Darby had been reluctant to speak of his Rovers experience, stating that there were still matters between the two parties to be ironed out.

But he has angrily hit back at Herbert, accusing him of “passing the buck”, while claiming he had to deal with interference from the club’s hierarchy.

The former Torquay, Shrewsbury and Rushden and Diamonds striker also alleges that players had complained of not receiving wages during his time as boss.

Herbert’s statement said: “Duane Darby has stated that he did not enjoy Bromsgrove Rovers, yet in the closed season he pleaded with me to give him another chance in light of the season we had when we just got relegated.

“However, I decided to give him another go but with the proviso that we needed to get off to a good start.

“This did not happen, so he was sacked.

“I feel I gave him a more than fair crack at the whip.

“One point he got right was he said that the atmosphere was not right in the changing room. He was absolutely spot on.

“The dressing room was not right but that was his job to get that right.

“The new manager has come into the dressing room and put right straight away what he found.

“Duane also states that the expectations were just far too heavy. I find that excuse pathetic.

“The fans pay good money and of course they expect better than the team he was putting out.

“What he is saying is that the club was too big for him.

“I wish he had told me that before he applied for the job, we might not be in the position we are in now.”

But Darby dismissed the comments as “absolute nonsense”.

He also claims that following his initial stint as caretaker manager, the club had promised to bring in an experienced boss for him to work under, but this never materialised.

He said: “They had their fingers in all of the time.

“It was at the stage where I was told I couldn’t use certain players and that they didn’t want them playing.

“The reason that I went to Bromsgrove was to steady the ship for a few games and then I would work under a manager, which would have been perfect for me.

“I even got a number of experienced managers to go and speak to them but they didn’t want to know.

“Because things went well, they wanted to keep me on, but then they started putting their fingers in.

“I am a player’s person. When players are coming to me and saying they haven’t been paid, it creates animosity between the players, which I have to deal with.

“The man is just trying to pass the buck.

“At the end of the day I know what has gone on and I think if I had have been left to get on with things I’d have done ok.

Herbert denied that players had not been paid and said that Darby had been happy to stay on as manager.

He added: “Yes, we did say we wanted to bring in another manager, but at the end of the day he wanted the job.

“Everbody was paid, and with regards to players we just asked him to keep within his budget.”