ALBERT Doweck has resigned as Bury FC chairman after only five months at the helm writes Bury Times Sports Editor Phil Thorp

That was the shock news to come out of Gigg Lane ahead of Saturday's crucial derby clash against local rivals Rochdale.

The club issued a surprise statement on Tuesday lunchtime stating that the chairman "feels the club is moving in the right direction and that he has achieved as much as he is able at this point in time".

However, it is believed a disagreement at boardroom level may have led to him making the decision.

It is an open secret that Mr Doweck is a good friend of Oxford United manager Ian Atkins after they worked together as chairman and manager at Carlisle United.

And his quitting may have been linked to his desire to replace current player-manager Andy Preece with the Oxford boss.

As far as director Ian Harrop is concerned no decision was ever made at board level regarding Atkins.

"It is well known that Albert had a good working relationship with Mr Atkins while at Carlisle but the club have certainly made no approaches to him," he said. "In fact, his name has never even been mentioned in any meetings."

What is clear is that the five remaining board members, Mr Harrop, Roger Barlow, Jim Lomas, Iain Mills and non-executive director Ross Johnson, are 100 per cent united in taking the club forward.

And that should be music to the ears of Bury fans who well remember what happened the last time the club's chairman resigned unexpectedly.

When Terry Robinson stepped down from the post in January, 2002, within weeks the famous 119-year old club was taken into administration by his successors, Fred Mason and John Smith, and was just weeks away from extinction.

This time around the situation is totally different, with a committed board still in place and united on taking the Shakers forward as a community club.

Since then Mr Doweck, who used to live in Tottington and the Ringley Road area of Whitefield, has flown out to his native Jamaica for a lengthy break.

The Bury Times has tried to contact him but up to press had received no reply.

While Mr Doweck did have a degree of experience of running a lower division soccer club, he didn't put any substantial amounts of money into the club, so his decision to quit is expected to have little or no effect on the future running of the Shakers.

In fact the directors were already planning ahead, knowing Mr Doweck was to be on holiday into the New Year.

"People should remember we are 18 months into a CVA (Creditors Voluntary Arrangement) period that will last four to five years," said Mr Barlow.

"We aren't out of the woods yet and are still paying off the debts of the past and that is a great restriction on us."

As for the future, the club won't be rushed into making a decision on who the new chairman will be and haven't ruled out new members coming onto the board.

"There is no way we want to be seen as a closed shop," said Mr Harrop.

"If there are people out there who can make positive a contribution, and not just financially, we'd love to hear from them.

"There is a lot of expertise within the club that we still need."