Steven Hislop quit Whitehill Welfare with '˜heavy heart'

Steven Hislop, left, has urged the board to appoint his assistant, David Bingham, right, as Whitehill boss

The former Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Raith Rovers and Livingston striker will take up his new role of assistant manager at an unnamed club today in time to take his seat in the dugout on Saturday.

The 38-year-old said his farewells on Tuesday night having just steered the Rosewell outfit into the quarter-finals of the South Region Challenge Cup with a 5-0 victory over Abbey Vale three days beforehand.

However, having taken the best part of a week to reach a decision, Hislop believes he has made the right call.

“I’ve had to make a lot of decisions in the game but this was definitely the hardest one I’ve made and that’s no exaggeration,” he explained. “I just feel it’s the right move at the right time. It’s a step up, they’re a bigger club with a bigger budget albeit I’m going in as the assistant manager.

“I’ve got such an affinity with Whitehill as they gave me my first opportunity to manage in my own right. It was quite emotional at training on Tuesday night saying my goodbyes. Some boys will be happy, that’s football, but I got a lot of nice messages from the players too.”

Hislop, who took over from Ian Flynn as manager in April and steered Whitehill to South Region Challenge Cup success a month later, has urged the board to appoint his former assistant David Bingham on a permanent basis.

“Bingy has done an absolute fantastic job. I brought him to the club but he supports me in my decision to leave and I just hope he gets the role permanently,” he said. “I told the chairman he would be foolish to look elsewhere. He’s a great coach with really good experience, the players know him so they’re not going to get anyone more qualified than David Bingham.

“I think the club is in a better position on the park from when I joined. We won a cup last season, they’re in two quarter-finals already this year and they’ve still got a good chance of getting into the top four. I go with a heavy heart but a bit of pride as well.”