TOMMY Saunders walked out of Swindon Supermarine last night after just 55 days at the Hunts Copse helm.

The former Chippenham Town boss called time on his nine-match tenure at the Dr Martens Western Division side, claiming he just could not see a future for himself at the club.

And he vowed to take a complete break from football management at least until the end of this season.

"I just couldn't see anything for me there next season,'' Saunders told the Evening Advertiser .

"I couldn't bring any players in because the season is nearly at an end and I couldn't really plan for next season as a result.

"If I saw a long-term future, it would not have been a problem.

"But hand on heart, I could not see me being at Supermarine at the end of the season.''

The Bath-based manager also cited the long travelling as a factor.

"I live in Bath and it is 51 miles each way to Supermarine,'' he said.

"The other night I was up for work at 7am and then went to the game and didn't arrive home until 11.45pm. It was wearing me down.''

Saunders, who guided Chippenham to the Dr Martens League and 2000 FA Vase final, had a tough start to his Hunts Copse reign, Marine being thrashed 6-0 by Halesowen in his first match in charge.

Results hardly picked up much after that either, the South Marston side picking up just one win and four points out of a possible 24, including Wednesday night's 2-2 home draw with Cinderford.

But Saunders still heaped praise on the Marine players, saying: "Results had nothing to do with it.

"I feel very disappointed I could not tell the players to their faces, but I would like to thank them for all their efforts and wish them all the best for the future. I know for a fact that we could have had a decent side for next season, but I just could not see anything happening long-term.''

Supermarine chairman Steve Moore issued a statement, which read: "The club is obviously disappointed at the news that Tom Saunders has tendered his resignation.

"The club, however, fully respect the reasons for this decision. Tom took the job under difficult circumstances as he was given no guarantees as to the plans of the club next season.

"The club has announced that it is currently engaged in pursuing options on the purchase of its ground.

"The potential investment from this purchase means that there are several financial scenarios under consideration. We therefore have been unable to give Tom the assurances we wanted, but we would like to thank him for his time at the club."

Mark Collier will take charge of team affairs tomorrow.