ANDY Morrison has revealed he decided at Christmas not to stay with Worcester City for another season.

The former Manchester City defender, who arrived at St George's Lane when Andy Preece was named boss in February 2005, resigned as assistant manager this week.

He was fed up with travelling from his home near Manchester twice a week but had also become frustrated at the constraints placed on his role by the part-time status.

Morrison has ambitions of working in the professional game and once it became clear City were destined to fail in their play-off bid, opted to walk away.

"It's something we have been talking about since Christmas," he said. "I had already decided not to commit myself next season. The travelling was beginning to get on top of me."

Morrison was also quick to dismiss suggestions that there was any foul play in his departure from his post.

He said: "I am sure there will be the normal people who will try and dig something up but there's nothing."

The 36-year-old is hoping to move into the full-time game over the summer at a club closer to his home, which rules out a move of linking up with former Blues defender Willie Donachie at Millwall.

Morrison wants the challenge of working with the players every day and being able to place demands on them without them having the added pressure of day jobs.

"I understand that they all have jobs and Worcester is just part of their week," he said.

"I do put a lot of expectations on them and at non-league level it's hard to maintain the standards that you ask.

"Lads come to training after work and you put high demands on them. We can put demands on them but we can't push as hard when it's not their full-time job.

"In full-time football you are preparing for four or five days. There are teams in Nationwide North that don't train and I find that staggering."

Morrison also believes the current City squad was good enough to push for promotion and is confident Andy Preece can finish the job without him next season.

He said: "With the squad we have got we should have got in the play-offs at the very least.

"I am sure Andy will go on with the same drive and determination next year as he has this year."