BURY chairman Stewart Day says it was "time to freshen things up" after sacking manager David Flitcroft.

Flitcroft was axed after the Shakers dropped from second in the League One table to 16th – only three points above the relegation places.

He had failed to guide Bury to a win in 11 games, a run that included some heavy defeats and culminated in a 5-0 loss at Wimbledon in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.

“Losing 10 out of 11 it was time to freshen things up,” Day said. “David understood that and respected that. We just felt we needed to go in a different direction.

“It was probably the hardest week that we have had in football. It is the hardest decision I have had to make in my career.

“I don't agree with people doing it over the phone or text message or Sky Sports News, I have got the respect for David to go and see him and we had a really good chat.

“I told him I was going to let him go and we talked about the good times we had had in the last three years.

"From where the football club was to where it was where he left it, I have to thank him for that.

“I said to the lads if anyone doesn't want to be part of this journey get up and leave the club now but thankfully nobody got up and walked out or else I might have been playing.”

The sacking came only two days after Day had publicly backed his former manager to turn the form around.

However, the 5-0 thumping at Wimbledon in the FA Cup – which cost the club a £100,000 second round tie with Curzon Ashton – proved to be the final straw.

“I came out because I had a really good meeting with David a couple of days before,” Day explained. “After the Southend fixture I was really hurting so I wanted to install a bit of confidence into the team to see if they could get a result down here.

“It was also important financially to the football club. We would have got a game against Curzon Ashton in the next round which was a televised fixture. I wanted to install that belief.

“I was really looking for a performance on Tuesday night. The way that we got beat and the reaction of some of the players as well - I just felt a little bit for David.”