Mark Collier believes this season has been the toughest he has ever experienced, as Supermarine’s boss refused to commit to the Hunts Copse hot seat for another year. The 2009/10 campaign comes to a close tomorrow with Marine hosting Merthyr Tydfil, and it brings to an end a rollercoaster eight months both on and off the pitch at the Southern League Premier Division outfit.

Collier’s side have had to deal with budget cuts, player departures, a relegation battle and a gruelling late schedule of 22 games in 10 weeks, leaving the manager both mentally and physically exhausted. And he admits he will have to sit down with the club’s board of directors before agreeing to be the man to lead Supermarine once more.

“It has been a long, tough season with everything that has gone on,” Collier, pictured, told the Advertiser. “We’ve had budget cuts, players leaving because of the budget cuts and a real fixture backlog on top of that. “At one stage we were in a really difficult position and probably one of the favourites to go down, but the players who stayed here stuck together in adversity, turned things around and deserve full credit for that.

“We tried to sign players from the league below but couldn’t match the wages that they were getting from some local clubs - that was what we were dealing with. And if we had gone down then I honestly believe there wouldn’t have been any coming back.

“It had been the hardest season I’ve had down there both on and off the pitch. But I’ve had the full support of the players and there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the club ticking over by a small band of people.”

He added: “As for next year, I need to sit down with the powers that be and discuss what is going to happen. “I need assurances that things will be different next season, there’s a few issues that need to be talked about, and until we’ve done that then I can’t say yes or no.”