Baker: Sacking Yates difficult

Cheltenham owner Paul Baker has labelled the sacking of manager Mark Yates as 'a very sad day'.

The 44-year-old had been in charge of the Robins for almost five years but his reign was ended after four straight League Two defeats, the most recent by four and three goal margins. And Baker, who saw Yates lead Cheltenham to the play-offs on two occasions, also revealed that their former manager was emotional when the news was broken to him. "It was hugely difficult," he told the club's official website. "It is a very sad day to be honest because Mark has done a huge amount for this football club. His contribution to this football club is significant. We've a huge amount to be grateful to Mark for, not least the mess he got us out of when he first arrived. "I've got nothing but good words to say about Mark as a man and someone who is passionate about this football club. He was very upset and understandably so and I was upset. "Everyone who knows Mark will have a tinge of sadness and quite a lot of sadness in some cases with the decision we've had to take. But that's football, we have to look after the business and we had to look at results and they haven't been good of late. "We wish him well in his future, I am sure he will bounce back; I hope he will remain a close friend of the club."