Whitehawk have tonight parted company with manager Darren Freeman.

The former Albion favourite has been sacked following a difficult first season in Conference south.

The Hawks are currently third from bottom and without a league win at home since September.

Club officials met yesterday and decided a change was necessary to help preserve the club’s status in the sixth tier of English football.

Freeman is arguably the most successful manager in Whitehawk’s history, leading them from the County League to Conference south in the space of four years.

His list of honours at the club includes three titles in four seasons, winning the Sussex Senior Cup in 2012, reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase and the last 16 of the FA Trophy.

The club were keen to stress it was a mutual parting of the ways but Freeman said: “I have been sacked and I’m devastated.”

Ross Standen, who was part of Freeman’s backroom team, has also left the club.

Full story in The Argus tomorrow.