Former Albion star Steve Gatting believes the rapid rise of St Leonards was the cause of their downfall.

Gatting, a Saints player for five years in the 1990s, was shocked to hear the Hastings-based club had folded on Monday due to financial problems.

They resigned from the Dr Martens League last year with crippling debts of around £25,000.

Gates dropped to as low as 40 this season and they were left with no choice but to quit the County League.

It's the end end of an era for many former players who enjoyed meteoric success during Saints' 33-year-history.

The club was formed in 1971 as a works team known as Stamco after the Sussex Turnery and Moulding Company. They rose 14 divisions in 26 years, thanks to the financial backing of company owner Stanley Shepperdson and then his son Leon.

Their heyday came in the 1990s when the club went from the County League to the Southern League premier division in just two years with a team of former professionals.

The most well known was Gatting who dropped six divisions from Charlton Athletic to join the club in 1993.

He said: "It is such a shame the club has gone when you think about all the hard work that went into building it.

"I was there for five years and really enjoyed it because we went a long way in a short period of time.

"I think the club probably grew too quickly and they could not maintain that anymore, but that was the way Leon Shepperdson was.

"He was a dynamic person and wanted results yesterday so he put in a lot of time and effort to make it the club it became.

"As soon as Leon went it started to go wrong and it's a shame no one came in and managed it better.

"I don't think the structure was there to maintain it.

"It has happened in the professional game when a club has chased success, then suffered for it.

"Non-league is just the same but you can't really blame clubs for wanting success. A lot of them are ambitious and it works, others try it and it doesn't."

Other famous names attracted to the club included Arsenal winger Brian McDermott, ex-Watford, Swindon and Portsmouth striker Jimmy Gilligan and former Albion defender Gary Chivers.

Former Charlton goalkeeper Sasa Ilic also started his career at The Firs.

Chivers said: "The club had so much potential when I was there and I thought it could have gone on to bigger and better things. The catchment area in Hastings is massive. I remember we once got in excess of 1,000 people for a game. It's a real blow they have gone because I thought everything was there for them to be a big non-league club."

Another Goldstone old-boy George Parris enjoyed a spell as player and assistant manager in 1998.

He said: "I had heard they were in some strife a while ago, but you just hope it's not going to happen.

"They are not the first club to go bust and I don't suppose they will be the last either.

"It's a shame it ended like this after the success but at least they gave it a go."