ANDY Price has quit as co-manager of Wessex League outfit Blackfield & Langley because he is totally disillusioned with officialdom.

After 21 years in the game, starting as a 16-year-old player with Sholing, Price is sick of being talked down to - or not being talked to at all - by the powers that be.

He says the treatment Blackfield have received "both on the field and in the offices of the Hampshire FA" has put him off football management forever.

Price was tipped over the edge when he was brought to task for having some half-time words with the referee at Totton in January.

Having paid his dues to the county discipline department, he got a letter from the HFA saying he'd been fined again.

He said: "I phoned to ask why I'd got the additional fine and was told it was for late payment, but I'd got the bank statement saying my cheque had been cashed.

"The HFA guy wasn't very nice at all and told me I'd been found guilty of something else. When I politely pointed out that hadn't been explained in the letter, he said 'tough' and put the phone down. I rang him back and he said I wasn't worth having a conversation with if I was going to speak to him like that.

"It was farcical. I hadn't spoken rashly or rudely. All I asked was if he could send me some details.

"Doug Sangster, the Blackfield secretary, always says that the clubs are customers of the HFA and if we're not happy with the service, we should feed it back to them. But when you do feed it back, they close ranks.

"If I spoke to people in my business the way that guy spoke to me, I wouldn't get any business! The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth."

Prior to taking over the Blackfield reins alongside Tony Feeney late last season, Price's only previous managerial experience was running Vospers reserves.

Although he has enjoyed every minute of working with Blackfield's young side, he couldn't tolerate another minute of being "treated like a child" by the men in black.

He said: "This season more any other season the referees won't listen to you and I think that's because a lot of them are out of their depth.

"There's one or two you can talk to and get on with - particularly the older ones - but about 80 per cent of them just dismiss you - and they seem to be coming down harder on Blackfield than anyone else.

"When we played down at Gosport and Kev Love got sent off, both linesmen sent in reports saying he sworn at the referee and yet neither was close enough to have heard.

"It was also in the reports that I'd had a confrontation with a linesman, but all I was doing was getting Kev off the pitch and into the changing room.

"I don't want anything to do with it any more. I'll probably just play on a Sunday now - until I'm banned!"