WEYMOUTH manager Jason Matthews has signalled his desire to remain in charge of the club next season, while also stepping back from his playing responsibilities.

The Terras’ boss has admitted that this season hasn’t met expectations set out by the club, but feels he has certainly learnt from the experience.

When asked if he thought he would be in charge next season, Matthews said: “I’d like to think so.

“I think I’ve learnt a lot with my back being against the wall since Christmas. It’s been incredibly frustrating, but I always wear my heart on my sleeve, even though I don’t always show it on the touchline.

“From a manager’s point of view I’ve felt I’ve learnt a lot this year compared to my first two seasons, and perhaps I need to be a little bit more ruthless and that’s something I need to learn.

“In the last couple of seasons I’ve had great assistants, and Mark Molesley again has been great this season, but it’s always nice to be able to spin things off people, and hopefully his role at Bournemouth won’t affect things too much at Weymouth.”

Matthews then spoke of the challenges of his role, and feels he’s come up with a solution to fully focus on making a success of the role.

He said: “Weymouth is a big club and with that comes expectation, and unfortunately I haven’t quite lived up to that this season, so I was always going to take some criticism.

“It is frustrating, you go away and question yourself and wonder what I could do better, and I’ve learnt a few things in the last few months.

“I don’t intend to play again next year, that’s for definite.

"I feel that as a manager I need to take a step back and be the manager of a football club. It’s something that I’ve got used to a little bit now.

“There’s lots to decide in the next couple of weeks and we’ll take it from there.”