GRAYS Athletic owner Andy Swallow has stepped down and handed the day-to-day running of the club over to the supporters.

Revealed exclusively to the Gazette, Swallow said 49 per cent of the club will now be run by a Supporters’ Committee although he will maintain control of the remaining 51 per cent.

A number of key players have left the club in recent weeks, with more to follow shortly, and Swallow says he has lost his appetite for the game.

Swallow, who will step down officially next week, confirmed he would still back the club through sponsorship and continue the fight to help Grays return to the town, with the team currently playing at Aveley’s Mill Field ground.

A select six-man committee including Tony Packer, Steve Skinner and Glyn Jarvis will now form a new board and lead the club, after Swallow initially revealed to the Gazette he was thinking of leaving at the end of last month.

“I have lost my appetite for non-league football,” said Swallow. “Non-league clubs aren’t given protection they need from football bosses and some players are more than happy to put trials at other teams before the well being of the club, while I pay them. It is wrong and I have had enough.

“We cut the budget for this year to focus on next year and that is what the club is looking towards.

“We are not going to be going up or going down this season so the final eight games of this season allows the supporters’ trust to build ahead of next season.”

A number of supporters meetings will be organised in the following weeks so the new board can discuss plans for next season and beyond.