Tony Humes says his experiences this season have made him a stronger person.

Humes started the 2015-16 campaign as Colchester United’s first-team manager and ended it as the club’s director of football.

It was certainly an eventful year for the former Ipswich Town and Wrexham defender, who left his position as U’s boss last November after a run of poor results before chairman Robbie Cowling brought him back to the club at the beginning of March.

Colchester had won only one of their previous nine league matches prior to Humes’ decision to resign and it was a testing time, with the run of form leading to criticism from some supporters.

But as he now helps the U’s plan for life in the fourth tier of English football following their relegation from League One, Humes insists that he has relished what he has been through.

Humes said: “It’s been an eventful year for me but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

“You always enjoy any experience you go through and it makes you stronger as a person and makes you grow as a person.

“From a personal point of view, I thought that this season started off really well and we thought that we were getting somewhere but we just hit some bad form and bad luck and results changed.

“It was a big decision for me to leave, because I’d been here for a long time.

“It was a sad day when it happened but Robbie said when it happened that he wanted me to remain as part of the club.

“I had a little bit of time off and he came back to me and put me in this role.”

Humes is currently working closely with new first-team coach John McGreal reshaping Colchester’s first-team squad for next season.

The pair have worked together for a number of years and having been in the manager’s hot seat himself, Humes believes McGreal has the right temperament to be a success.

“You have to try to remain calm and on an even level, at all times - that’s the biggest thing,” said Humes.

“I know John’s character and he’s very similar to myself and I don’t think there’s any worries, in terms of that.

“But sometimes, you can get caught up in certain situations and you maybe lose a little bit of rationale and your decisions can become a little bit clouded.

“I think John will remain very positive in what he’s doing – that’s the main thing and the biggest thing.

“Hopefully, everybody will get behind him and give him a good lot of support, in terms of what we’re trying to do and how we’re going to start the season.”

Humes says he will be happy to offer any advice and guidance to McGreal should he need it, as he adjusts to life in charge of Colchester’s first team.

He said: “It’ll be a massive help in that regard, having experienced being a Football League manager.

“You don’t often get that situation where that manager stays at the football club and has that opportunity to share those experiences.

“I’ve known John really well for a long time now and any little bits of information, experiences, support, whatever I can give him, I’ll be there for him.

“It might be at different times that he needs it and certainly within games, John’s experienced enough and been in football long enough to make his own decisions.

“However, dealing with certain things surrounding games and when things aren’t going right, I’ve got quite a lot of experience to help him on that side of things as well!”

McGreal and Humes have been busy revamping Colchester’s squad for next season, with Joe Edwards, Marvin Sordell and Darren Ambrose among nine players to be leaving this summer and the likes of Tom Eastman and Drey Wright offered new contracts.

McGreal was unveiled as Kevin Keen’s successor more than three weeks ago and Humes says it was vital the appointment was made when it was.

He added: “I think it’s really important that we got this done at the time we got it done, so everybody knows what’s happening at the start of next season.

“Certainly from the players’ point of view, if they hadn’t have known who they were going to be coming back to and who was in charge of the first team, it just clouds people’s thoughts and becomes unsettled for everybody.

“I think the fact that it’s done now gives us an opportunity to make some good decisions and look at which players are going to remain here and which players aren’t, along with which players we’re going to try and bring into the football club.

“I think there’s a lot of groundwork to be done before we actually get back and start the football work, in July.”