IT IS the end of an era at Fairfield Villa after the joint management team of Paul Oakes and Lee Shaw said they will step down at the end of the season after 11 years in charge.

Oakes said: “Myself and Lee have thought long and hard about this, but we’ve decided to let someone else have a go.

“We leave an absolutely brilliant club which is in great shape and it’s a great position for an up and coming manager or a more experienced boss who doesn’t want to cope with midweek games.

“Lee and I were both thinking of leaving last season on a high, but there was a some disruption because almost the whole team had left and we had to build again.

“But we’ve struggled to field the same team week in, week out, despite having 50 players registered.”

Oakes is set to remain as vice chairman while Shaw will focus on his business. The duo joined the club from Northfield Town and immediately had an impact as they finished third and won the President’s Cup.

Since then they have finished in the top four nine times and built several impressive teams, which has resulted in a number of players moving to higher levels in the non-league pyramid.

Oakes added: “The thing I am most proud of was building strong teams without any playing budget and that was when much bigger clubs than us were moving through the pyramid.

“We’ve had teams asset stripped by clubs higher up, but always been able to build competitive teams.

“I will be staying on as vice chair to offer any advice or experience I can to the new manager.”

Meanwhile, Villa lost 2-0 at Paget Rangers in Midlands Division Two.

They have three games left, taking on Chelmsley at home on Saturday (3pm ko).