The Wellington Phoenix general manager David Dome says Ricki Herbert wasn't pushed into resigning as head coach of the A-League football club.
Herbert tendered his resignation to chairman Rob Morrison and the Phoenix board on Monday morning, although the club didn't announce it until 24 hours later - after the players had heard about it via social media.
He will take up a new role as technical football advisor to the board.
Dome says the board had always said they were going to review his contract at the end of the year and that's what they were working towards.
The Phoenix have won just once in the past nine matches and have managed only five wins from 22 games overall.
Dome says there wasn't any indication that this was coming, and Herbert's a very honourable man so he thinks he's done what he felt was the right thing to do.
There's plenty of speculation in the media that the club is already deep into the process, and Herbert saw the writing on the wall, though Dome says the process of finding Herbert's replacement has not started yet.
Assistant coach Chris Greenacre will manage the side for the rest of the season.
