RONAN Keating is set to quit managing chartopping boyband Westlife so he can concentrate on his budding solo career. The Boyzone heartthrob who has helped guide his young protégées to five consecutive number one hits has admitted he is now too busy to spend as much time as he would like on the band.

Ronan, who is set to release a solo sing in July, said: "To be honest, I just don't have the time anymore. I still call the lads to see how they're getting on, but I wouldn't honestly say that I manage them now." Ronan was asked to co-managed to group by his own manager Louis Walsh when the group were starting out last year. With Ronan's help they have become one of the biggest teen bands in the country and they are now in the middle of taking on the American pop market.

However Ronan, 23, has now decided to hand all responsibilities back to him as he bids to carve a solo career outside of Boyzone. He confessed: "At the start of Westlife it was more important that I was involved with the lads in more depth. I was able to advise them about things in the business that they had never encountered.  But they've gone on to huge things now and have learned the business every bit as quickly as Boyzone."

The news has come as a bombshell to bosses at Westlife's record company RCA who weren't aware of his shock decision. A spokesperson for the group said: "As far a Westlife are concerned Ronan is still their manager." Ronan is still lined up to join Westlife onstage at the Party In The Park musical extravaganza in London on 9 July.