North Melbourne president James Brayshaw says the Kangaroos board were considering whether to replace chief executive Eugene Arocca before he resigned on Tuesday.
Arocca handed in his resignation, effective immediately, saying his position had become untenable.
Brayshaw said the board had met last month to set in place a process to decide whether Arocca should continue in the job beyond the expiry of his contract in October, or be replaced.
But he denied that Arocca had delivered an ultimatum over the timing of the decision or that he had a personal feud with the CEO.
“It was decided we needed to embark on a process of either re-signing Eugene or beginning to search for whoever might replace him,” Brayshaw told reporters.
“It’s just proper board behaviour. It had begun, it was ongoing, he knew everything about it, there was no cloak and dagger about it.”
Brayshaw said suggestions of rifts between Arocca and himself or between Arocca and the club’s football manager Donald McDonald were untrue, although he admitted there had been friction at times.
“In footy clubs, regularly you get times when people don’t see eye to eye, it’s a robust environment,” Brayshaw said.
“I think Donald and Eugene have great respect for each other.
“I’d be lying if I said they always see eye to eye, the same way I’d be lying if I said Eugene and I always saw eye to eye.
“You don’t, it’s a brutal industry and there are times when you need to have brutal and frank discussions with people.”
Brayshaw said Arocca’s “street fighter” nature had caused him to butt heads with other club figures at times, but was also part of what had made him good at his job.
He said Arocca had achieved a lot in his five years, notably spearheading the creation of the club’s $15 million training and administration facility, helping transferring club control to the members and increasing revenue.
Chief operating officer Cam Vale will be acting chief executive, with Brayshaw expecting it to take two or three months to find a permanent replacement.
Brayshaw said Arocca had been asked whether he wanted to front Tuesday’s media conference, but declined.