Stags fans could only sit in agony by radios and listen as Chester put the final nail in their relegation coffin without Mansfield kicking a ball.

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It had seemed all along that Mansfield's final game at Dagenham and Redbridge this Saturday would be a crucial decider.

But Saturday's eventful 1-0 home defeat by Rotherham, coupled with unwanted results elsewhere, left Stags clinging to the precipice.

All of a sudden they were left with the outside hope of Chester losing their last two games while taking three points themselves at Dagenham to stay up on goal difference.

But it wasn't to be and a season of high misery on and off the field finally saw the Stags dumped into the Blue Square Premier League for the first time.

Despite their demotion, current Stags boss Paul Holland - who decided not to travel to Chester to watch the draw with Stockport - insists he wants to remain at the helm and urged the club to sort his future out quickly.

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He is already devising a master plan for an immediate return.

Holland was given the last 12 games of the season to try to save the club and came close with a marked improvement in results and performances following the departure of Billy Dearden on 8th March.

Holland believes he has done a good enough job to be given the post on a longer term basis and, once installed, he intends quickly sorting out his playing staff and then investigating in depth how the likes of Doncaster Rovers and Colchester United bounced back from relegation to non-League football all the stronger for it.

On Tuesday night, after the result at Chester, Holland said: "Stockport played almost a full strength team so fair play to them.

"It is going to be a horrible couple of days now. We half-expected it after the weekend but it still feels like a kick in the teeth.

"But we haven't been good enough at the end of the day and we can't afford to mope about and feel sorry for ourselves. The hard work begins now and our aim has to be to get back up first time.

"Darlington and Carlisle have proved it can be done now Mansfield Town have to prove it can be done.

"I want to sit down and talk about the future this week. It is a very important couple of weeks for the future of Mansfield Town."

"I believe I am the man to lead us back up," he said.

He added: "I have been as positive as I can since I took over and tried to get the best out of the players we have here. They responded and we have improved, though we have fallen at the last hurdle.

"Now I hope the club will make a decision quickly. Wrexham and Chester have both given their managers new two-year contracts.

"There is a long hard summer of work ahead here and I want to get started on it as soon as I can.

"It is important to look at clubs like Doncaster and Colchester and see how they approached it when they went down. I want to speak to people concerned at these clubs and find out how they did it.

"It is vital we get back early. Look at clubs like Oxford. If you don't get back up first season then you can soon dwell in that league and it becomes the norm.

"It is disappointing to have to take a step backwards. But we now have to make sure we take two or three steps forward. And there are going to have to be massive changes here on and off the field to do that.

"Next season we would be a League club playing in the Conference and that's a good time to attract players. I would promise them a good season, playing attractive football.

"That's how I would want to get us back up. I want us to play the right way."