Si Ferry has revealed he almost left Open Goal Broomhill on numerous occasions this season as he blasted critics who branded his actions as a "vanity project".

The former Peterhead coach will leave the Lowland League club at the end of the season as the commercial partnership between Open Goal and Broomhill concludes.

But Ferry was keen to "dispel a few myths" surrounding his departure and the impact the separation will have on the part-time club.

Paul Slane and Derek Lyle will also leave coaching positions at the club come the summer.

Firing back at critics and rumours linking Ferry's exit with a job offer elsewhere the former Celtic youth player explained: "I can take abuse, I'm a big boy. It's when people are saying things that aren't true...it's not me again, it's my family that take it hard.

"I wanted to come on and dispel a few myths that have been going about this week.

"For one, I never left Broomhill because I had an offer of another job.

"Once I decided to leave Broomhill, I'll be totally honest with you, I've had a chairman and a director of football phone - not offering a job - but to speak about the possibility of a job which I have knocked back because I don't want to be a manager next year.

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"That's part of the reason I am leaving Broomhill, I don't think it's possible for me to be a manager and then come on this type of podcast where you need to be upbeat.

"This is my priority in life, this is what we have built up from nothing. This is what pays the bills."

Ferry cited the major workload between football club and podcast requirements as a major factor behind his decision to leave the dugout.

Admitting it had an impact on his family, the coaching staff and his players, Ferry stated that he wouldn't coach next season due to feeling uncomfortable with a situation of being a manager and then appearing on a podcast on a Monday.

"I don't feel comfortable doing it," he said. "I don't want to do it again for another season. So in terms of management, I'll not be doing that again next year.

"You know how much I love coaching, couple of possibilities to maybe go and coach somewhere which I want to take up.

"If that coaching job only consists of me turning up, putting on a session and going up the road.

"It's too consuming for me to be a manager and also do this podcast."

"For anybody saying this was a vanity project, I don't think I've worked as hard in my life and that started to affect my family, the staff, players."

On his own position, Ferry added: "I was going to leave the job two or three times this season. The one reason I never stayed, please believe me was to make myself look good, because if anything I have looked worse.

"The one reason that I stayed is for the players."

Fellow co-host Slane - who appeared on the podcast episode with Kevin Kyle and Kirk Broadfoot revealed the past week since the announcement has been a struggle, with Ferry admitting his mum was "nearly greeting" over his departure.

Slane said: "Genuinely last week I did struggle. I phoned you (Ferry) and you were good with it, you dealt with it fine but I really struggled, I hit a low.

"There were a few things going on personally with me as well which probably didn't help."

Then, again responding to snipes at the club and the Open Goal affiliation, Ferry insisted any suggestion the players at the club were sold a dream or let down was "nonsense".

He said: "See our players this year, they'll have more options than they had last year.

"Bar him (Broadfoot) and Broque (Watson), I don't think any of the other boys had any options when I went to meet them.

"When I went to meet these guys in the summer, they never had loads of offers, that's why they ended up coming to Broomhill because believe me it wasn't for the money.

"Now, with the exposure, we have given them I've got loads of managers asking me about a lot of the players.

"So to say that the players have been hung out to dry is a load of nonsense.

"You look at any part-time club in this summer, whether it's Kelty Hearts or Dumbarton; there will be ten players that leave in that summer.

"That's just the way part-time football works."

Slane then called out some public opinion and reaction suggesting Broomhill could fold after the separation - something Ferry ruled out with debt at the club reportedly fully cleared during the commercial relationship.

He said: "I've seen a thing that's crazy that it's almost like Broomhill is going to fold as a club now that we are pulling out.

"That is so far from the truth.

"Us coming out is not putting them in a worse position, is it?"

Ferry responded: "I've seen that as well, 'the club will be left worse off and players have been sold a dream', so I want to address those two things.

"First of all with the club. There will be no debt left at the club when we leave, no outstanding debt, there was when we went there. We've cleared that debt.

"So the club is actually in a better position once we leave than when we first got it.

"In terms of the players, and players being sold a dream. For anyone who knows how part-time level works, it's always one year contracts.

"Now in terms of selling people a dream, every player I met was told if we're up near the top of the league we will go again next year. If not, it will be in doubt, like anything in life.

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"If it's not successful there is a doubt there whether it'll go again because there might not be the interest in it, you might not generate the sponsorship for it.

"But in terms of telling players exactly how we were going to play, exactly how we were going to train, exactly how I was going to prepare for things, exactly the intensity; I don't think one player can come in here and say we've not matched it.

"In terms of selling players a dream, that has not happened. Every single player was told exactly how it was going to be and I believe I have stuck to everything I said I was going to do."

Clarifying the business relationship between Open Goal and Broomhill, Ferry said: "I think people think that we own Broomhill, we don't. It was a year-to-year deal.

"Broomhill are still owned by the same people, so when we leave nothing will change in terms of the ownership of the club. It will still be the same guys that were there before we came in.

"It was just like a sponsorship, a years sponsorship. And it was both sides, I think Broomhill thought it was best to go back to the way they were as well.

"It's amicable in terms of the separation."