Wade Elliott: Cheltenham manager leaves after winless and goalless run

Wade Elliott was a coach at Cheltenham before being given the top job in June 2022

Cheltenham manager Wade Elliott has left the club after a winless start to the season that has seen the team also fail to score.

The Robins are bottom of League One, with one point, having lost seven of their eight games.

Their 3-0 defeat by Peterborough saw them equal the English Football League record set by Halifax in 1990-91 of eight games without scoring a goal.

Elliott, 44, took over from Michael Duff as head coach in June 2022.

The former midfielder joined Cheltenham's coaching staff in 2020 and was first-team coach prior to taking the top job.

But after guiding the team to League One safety and 16th place last season, Cheltenham have begun this season on a torrid run and failed to score or register a win.

Assistant manager Kevin Russell has been placed in caretaker charge ahead of the team's game against Stevenage on Saturday.

"The directors would like to place on record their appreciation for Wade's contribution since joining the club as a coach in September 2020, playing a significant role in the League Two title win and then the club's highest finish alongside Michael Duff," a club statement read.

"He was named head coach last summer and went on to achieve the club's second-highest finish in his own right."

Analysis - Cheltenham have always been playing catch-up

Paul Furley, BBC Radio Gloucestershire

Responsibility always falls upon the person picking the team at a football club, but Cheltenham Town's problems go deeper than Wade Elliott as head coach.

The loss of director of football Micky Moore to Shrewsbury Town in May was followed in July by first-team coach Marcus Bignot and recruitment analyst Tom Ware.

Assistant manager Russell Milton switched to head of recruitment in a transfer window where the club made a total of 13 permanent and loan signings, who are still bedding in.

As a result, Cheltenham have always been playing catch-up.

Alfie May was a talisman last season for the Robins, who have missed his work-rate, pace and finishing. His reward for helping to secure safety was permission to leave in the summer, but arguably the money received for him from Charlton (reported to be around £200,000) has not reflected his value to the club.

When arguing he was still the best person for the job, Elliott made a perfectly valid point after the defeat at Peterborough, saying: "This club at this level is always going to go through sticky periods.

"People might not want to hear that, but that is the truth, we are always swimming against the tide.

"If you think someone else is going to come in, click their fingers and all of a sudden we're going to transform into a top team in this division, then I think we're all kidding ourselves."

Russell is in caretaker charge, but if he or anyone else brought in to replace Elliott have a similarly slow start to the one endured by the ultimately successful Michael Duff - who took until his 10th game to secure his first win - the task of keeping Cheltenham Town in League One will become even more difficult.