The battle for control of the St Kilda Football Club is over after club president Rod Butterss and the remainder of the Saints' board resigned on Tuesday - just a day before the club was due in the Federal Court as the rival 'Footy First" ticket sought to force the board to finalise an election date.
Butterss, president of the club since 2001, has formally handed over control of the club to the rival ticket - headed by transport magnate Greg Westaway and featuring former players Nathan Burke and Andrew Thompson, who are expected to formally unveil their plans for the club at Friday night's best and fairest count.
The decision by the Saints' board to resign came as the Westaway group had already reportedly secured the proxy votes of some 7,500 Saints' members ahead of the election, which Westaway wanted to be held on October 23 but Butterss was seeking to delay until November 26 - hence the pending court action.
The remaining four members of the Butterss' board - Glen Casey, Mark Kellett, Andrew Bassat and Ray King - also resigned with the other two members in John Gdanski and vice-president Ross Levin having already thrown their support behind Westaway.
Butterss said the current Saints board had resigned because it was not prepared for the club to go through a costly court battle when it was obvious the bulk of members wanted a change in the club's leadership.
The Saints' president said a smooth transition and a stable environment were vital to enable the club to focus on the 2008 season and focus on vital issues such as the signing of sponsors following the recent loss of two major sponsors - which contributed to the demise of the Butterss' board.
However Butterss said he left the club proud of his achievements and particularly the fact he was leaving it in strong financial shape.
"The club will again deliver a $1 million plus profit for the year – its fourth consecutive $1m profit," Butterss said.
"It is free of debt and has allocated significant cash reserves for continued investment in football."
Butterss also pointed out that all of the club's key players - the latest being key defender Matt Maguire - had re-signed for next year.
One of the driving factors in the push for change at St Kilda had been the club's apparent lack of spending in the football department but Butterss said only last week the Saints had signed the highly-respected Dave Misson from Sydney to oversee the injury management program.
The Saints have been hard-hit by injuries to key players - particularly soft-tissue injuries - in recent years and it was their inability to keep their best players on the park that contributed to the club losing the 2004 and 2005 preliminary finals when it came so close to ending a premiership drought stretching back to 1966.
Butterss said there were no hard feelings from his board saying he and his fellow retiring directors' 'support and love for the St Kilda football club will never die' and that 'they will be there from the first game next year with all the other St Kilda fans to provide support to the club that they have been honoured to follow and serve'.
The other members of the Saints' new board will be Dana Nelson, Simon Grant and Chris Brant while the new football sub-committee will comprise Burke and Thompson as well as another former player and QC in Mordy Bromberg as well as former Olympic swimmer Michael Klim.