EAST Thurrock United manager John Coventry has announced he is to leave the BetVictor Isthmian Premier Division side at the end of the season, after 13 years at the helm of one of the most remarkable stories in non-League football.

Most observers of the game at this level would confirm a stunning, sustained level of performance by a club punching well above its weight in terms of support and revenue-earning potential and Coventry has been responsible for leading the Rocks' success story.

Yet, even as he contemplates ending an era in non-League football for the little 'pub side' from Essex as they became known during one remarkable FA Cup run, Coventry says it is not all about him – but a remarkable succession of people who have worked with him and his family to keep the club in the spotlight.

And, as he looks back on a run that has seen the club in four play-offs, win a league title, two promotions, achieve two FA Cup first rounds, a runners-up spot in the League Cup, an Essex Senior Cup triumph (and being a losing finalist) and three seasons in the second tier of non-League football few could argue that the performance of Coventry puts him right at the top of the game outside the Football league.

So why is he standing down from the Rocks? And what happens next?

Coventry says that after 13 years at the club, which is undergoing an internal transformation of ownership and financial restructuring, he says it is time to bow out – but he is not ruling out a return to the game at some point.

"First and foremost, I must pay tribute to the late Ben Bennett, who was as good a club owner as you could wish for," says the man known throughout the non-league game as 'Covo'. "He backed my appointment in the first instance when some might have questioned it and then he gave me absolute support. He let me run the club and make decisions.

"From time to time he might have disagreed with my decisions, or felt we could have approached a situation or a signing in a different way, but not once did he tell me what to do. He would listen and offer his opinion but at the end of the day he let me get on with it.

"That is remarkable and his death last year after a brave battle against cancer was body blow to me personally and to the club. He was a remarkable man who achieved so much through his individual and unique way of doing things and the fact that so many people, more than 500, turned up to pay their respects to him at his funeral earlier this year is a true measure of the man.

"There have not been many, nor will there be many more, like Bennie Bennett.

"But times change and things move on. For all the most understandable of reasons the club is changing and so are its circumstances. I know there are challenges ahead but I think they are challenges that need to be taken on by someone with a fresh perspective.

"I will have a rest this summer and then sit back and see where I go."

Where Coventry goes is open to speculation, but where he has been is an undisputed success story.

Covo took over at Rookery Hill in the closing stages of the 2007-2009 season when the manager, Lee Patterson, moved on to take on the challenge at Braintree. Patterson wanted to take his assistant Coventry with him but he remained with the Rocks at Bennie Bennett's request and though the club were relegated by the smallest of margins that season – by point deducted for fielding an ineligible player – the stage was set for success.

Looking back Coventry says that going down was probably the best thing that could have happened for him, and the club.

"I was still very much a newcomer and finding my feet" he says. "I had learned a huge amount from Lee and to this day I have the utmost respect for him. He gave me the opportunity to get involved in the coaching side of senior football and took me under his wing. He was unique. Some might say a maverick, but he had a great track record of success and – good or bad – you could always learn from the way Patto did things.

"That first season in sole charge in the Isthmian North was a remarkable one. We should have won the league but lost it on the final day of the season in one of the most remarkable games anyone could ever see.

"I don't think anyone who saw us beaten by Aveley will ever forget one of the great games of non-League football. It was a derby and had so many twists and turns it was amazing and at the end of the day a most dramatic penalty save by Aveley's centre half who had to go in goal gave the Millers a win at our expense and I think even now I can see that penalty in my dreams! It's a memory that will never go away."

Defeat in the play-offs at the hands of Concord Rangers followed in each of the following two seasons, but Coventry and the Rocks finally claimed the Division One North crown and became champions by a landslide margin in 2011.

By then Coventry had been joined on the sidelines by assistant Jay Devereux, who had succeeded his initial partnership with assistant John Lawrence. At the close of his Rocks career, Coventry pays tribute to both men. "They are very different but they have a great knowledge of the game and they were easy to work with and I am forever grateful for the knowledge they shared with me and the way they played their part in what we achieved."

The next season was another landmark one for the club. Playing in the Isthmian Premier was a challenge they met with a degree of comfort but the real success came in the cups, reaching the last 32 of the FA Trophy for the first time and the First round of the FA Cup, where they were paired with Football League Macclesfield in a game that was televised from Rookery Hill.

"That season was something special. I had a great bunch of players who bonded so well. I will never forget the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup at Eastbourne Borough when we pulled off an unexpected win by a squad who were so relaxed and confident, they spent the pre-match build-up goading keeper Jamie Riley to jump into the sea. Of course he did! He picked up a nice wad from the players for doing it and then stood firm behind them when Eastbourne threw everything they had at us. It was just a very special day."

Playing in the full media spotlight of the FA Cup first round was another challenge that Covntry met head on but he is the first to pay tribute to the off-field team behind him.

"Throughout my time at East Thurrock I have had some remarkable people helping me. In Mick and Margaret Stephens and Brian Mansbridge who have done incalculable hours of work over the past 13 years I have not only got great supporters, but real and lifelong friends. Every bit of success I have enjoyed is due to them as much as me.

"And others came in and made great commitments that day and in the years that follow. I can only say the biggest of thanks to Neil Speight who did nine years as secretary, his wife Yvonne, Mandy Kenward and Linda and Steve Pegrum who have always been there when needed.

A football club is only as good as the people behind the scenes and we have been magnificent in that respect. Over the years people like club founder Terry Keating, Phil Hibbert, Chris Fuller, Albie O'Connor, Nutzy Dodkins, Tony Andrews, Gerry Watson, Dave Fenn, Mark Hooper and youngsters Michael Edwards and Tom Anderson - who came and sat on the bench as ball fetchers and water carriers – never failed me or the club when something was asked of them. They are great people and I thank them from the bottom of my heart."

And Coventry had special mention for two people who were far from the limelight but embodied the club. "Sam Cox and Mike Bakewell are no longer with us and you couldn't get two more different characters, but both will live long in my memory and long in the memory of the club" he says.

Rocks lost that game against Macclesfield 3-0. Anyone who saw itsaid the result was a travesty but, as ever, Coventry was phlegmatic, saying: "It was a great day. We gave it our best shot, we acquitted ourselves professionally on and off the pitch and were a credit to the game. We didn't get the bit of luck we needed and at the end of the day their full time strengths got them through. That's football. Sometimes you don't always get what you deserve, but that's what makes it special."

And, for the first time, Rocks reached the Isthmian League Cup final, losing 1-0 to Bury Town.

The 2012-13 season brought another first. A place in the Isthmian Premier play-offs but the Rocks went down at Lowestoft in a campaign that also brought another remarkable game at Rookery Hill – an FA Cup fourth round qualifying replay with Chelmsford that ended 4-4 and ended with a penalty shoot-out that Rocks sadly lost – with a game against Colchester waiting in the First Round proper!

By contrast, 2013-14 brought a tough campaign. Limited success in the cups was echoed by a tough league season that saw Rocks go into the final day needing a win against Bognor Regis to survive. 2-0 down in the first half, their chances looked blown but once more the Rocks worked their magic and they conjured up a remarkable win that kept them in the Isthmian top flight and an impetus they carried into the next season which brought another great FA Cup run, culminating in a first round proper tie at Hartlepool United.

Again, Rocks did well on the day and had chances to put a grip on the tie, most memorably hitting the woodwork at 0-0. But the superior fitness of their Football League hosts saw them to a 2-0 win.

Still, it was another first in the record books and in the following season they surpassed themselves by reaching the Premier Division play-off and then beating Tonbridge Angels and Dulwich Hamlet to go up to the National League South!

For two season Rocks more than held their own in the higher altitudes of the non-League game and proved their cup-fighting pedigree by beating National League sides Aldershot (twice) and Chester in the FA Trophy, reaching the last 32 in 2017 and the last 16 in 2018. As ever, there was another first in 2018, a place in the final of the Essex Senior Cup but Rocks were beaten by Chelmsford City.

Were they downhearted? Not really, they bounced back to make a second final the following year and memorably gained revenge by beating Chelmsford City to take the trophy for the first time. Sadly, perhaps the cup exploits took their toll on league form, and, after a long campaign in the lower reaches of the table, Rocks were finally relegated back to the Isthmian Premier.

"It was perhaps inevitable," says Coventry. "Surviving at that level is so much about money and resources and, to be honest, we were punching above our weight. What we achieved in getting there was astonishing and I think my proudest reflections on the 13 years at Rocks will be staying in that division for three years. And being the top side in Thurrock for nine seasons.

"This season has seen a depleted squad and a reduced budget but Coventry has still managed to keep his side in the higher reaches of the table. Safety from automatic relegation is assured with a third of the season to go and that has given Coventry time to reflect and decide it's time to go.

"It's been astonishing. We have had so many highs compared to so few lows. I totalled it up and we managed to win more than £159,000 in prizemoney in 12 seasons. That's amazing for a club of this size," he says.

"Through all the years I have been helped by so many people. I hope I have mentioned most of those off the pitch but if not I am sorry and apologise in advance, so many people have been kind and supportive it's impossible to mention them all.

"Pitchside there have been so many excellent people. As well as Jay and John who I mentioned earlier I have had great support from the likes of Steve Carmichael-Brown, Steve Taylor, Joe Keith, Paul Vaughan, Kem Izzet and Neil Gray on the bench, plus my own son John Coventry Junior.

"And speaking of family, they have been my greatest supporters. Words cannot express my gratitude and thanks to my daughters Jenny and Helen and son-in law Dave Osborne but ultimately the biggest and most heartfelt thanks must go to my wonderful wife Christine. I could not have done any of this without her and East Thurrock United would not be the club it is without her. I have been blessed.

"And as for the players. It's impossible not to single out Sam Higgins, whose consistency and record-breaking number of goals have played just as much a part in our journey as myself. He is an enigma in football terms and maybe we will never know just how good he could have been had circumstances been different in terms of his fitness but at our club he is, and always will be, a legend. But legends can't do it on their own. We have had so many great players and characters in an East Thurrock shirt I could spend all day and night talking about them.

"I will just say my personal thanks to everyone who has pulled on an amber and black shirt for all their efforts.

"And last, but by no means least, my thanks to our loyal supporters. 'Come On You Rocks' has from little Corringham has echoed far and wide in football across the country, from Spennymoor and Hartlepool in the north to Truro in the west, Lowestoft in the east and numerous grounds all along the south coast from Hastings to Poole. It has been a pleasure and an honour to be the manager of their club and to all I give thanks from the bottom of my heart."