SWINDON Town have no immediate plans to replace Steve Murrall after the Robins’ general manager stepped down from his role to pursue other business interests.

Murrall, who was part of chairman Jed McCrory’s Seebeck 87 Ltd group which took control of the club in February, has resigned from Town’s board of directors and will no longer oversee the day to day running of the Robins’ administrative and commercial departments.

In a statement to the Advertiser, Murrall said: “Since we came in I have seen the football club move up to an operational stage which I believed it needed to get to, and from there I have decided that now is the time to concentrate on my own businesses.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the club and I wish the board, the players and the fans all the best for the future.”

McCrory told the Adver that the work Murrall has done to change the way the club functions internally means no replacement is necessary.

He said: “Internally, due to the fact systems are in place, everyone’s got direction, they all have targets to reach and it all comes in on an electronic system.

“Mark Isaacs (stadium and operations manager) has been able to take that on within his role, I’ve always had a hands-on approach, Lee (Power, co-owner) has taken on more of a hands-on approach and I don’t think we need to replace Steve in all honesty.

“The natural progression of a football club should be through the ethos of a business, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Murrall, who McCrory revealed has recently been working on a project in Malta, will continue to develop the MyWorld concept introduced to Swindon by the current owners.

McCrory added that Murrall was never intended to be a long-term fixture at the County Ground, saying: “When we came in we said we were here to stabilise the club, take the club forward and set up procedures. Steve has been instrumental in setting up the CRM system, the MyWorld system - which everyone was moaning at to start with - which has now increased the online activity from five per cent to 60 per cent of the club.

“That system has never been done anywhere in this country, in fact it’s never been done anywhere at all. To be able to reward fans through that has been down to Steve coming in and setting up that system.

“The CRM (customer relationship management) system came with that and we’ve got KPIs (key performance indicators) in there now and the club is in a really good shape systematically, and that’s down to Steve.

“When we came here we said he wasn’t going to be here forever. I’ve got business interests with Steve and right now he’s having a go in Malta because we’re dealing with the Maltese government on some work out there around the marinas.

“We just can’t dedicate his time to the club and we don’t want to mug the fans off. If the fan pays a pound he deserves a pound’s worth of effort from everyone at the club and Steve’s done that every single day he’s been here.

“I’m a bit sad Steve’s not here but on the other side of it the businesses he’s got as well were suffering and he’s got to take them forward for his own families.”