Graeme Allan’s resignation means Collingwood now have their fifth AFL football manager since 2013.

The latest change comes at a critical time for the Magpies, with coach Nathan Buckley needing a big season from the team next year to ensure he keeps his job.

Collingwood were one of the big losers out of Tuesday’s AFL Commission meeting, with Allan falling on his sword shortly after he accepted a 12-month AFL ban for his part in the Lachie Whitfield affair.

Geoff Walsh, one of the key figures in Collingwood’s 2010 premiership, left his role as Magpies football manager in 2013.

Since then Rodney Eade, Neil Balme and most recently Allan have filled the role.

Now Collingwood football operations manager Marcus Wagner will have the job on an interim basis while they look for a full-time replacement.

Allan, the former Greater Western Sydney football boss, was banned after Whitfield stayed at then-Giants welfare manager Craig Lambert’s house for three days in May last year, allegedly to avoid a potential drug test.

Allan maintains he was just trying to help Whitfield through a messy break-up.

“But I do accept that regardless of my good intentions, I should have handled the issues differently and ensured Lachie continued to meet his off-field ‘whereabouts’ obligations at all times,” Allan said in a statement.

“I also accept that the club I served then, and the club I serve now, are dealing with the consequences of this matter.

“For this, I am sorry.

“This is why I have agreed to accept the suspension handed to me today. The legal fight could have gone on, but that is not in the best interests of the game, the AFL, or my family.”

Whitfield will miss seven games of the 2017 season after accepting a six-month ban and Lambert has copped a 12-month suspension, with all sanctions ticked off by ASADA.

Allan only replaced Balme in August after initially joining the club in a more development-based role in May, with the Pies aware he was under investigation when they hired him.

But in accepting his resignation, the club revealed they were not made fully aware of all facets of the investigation.

“Collingwood received from Allan, in the form of a statutory declaration, a satisfactory account of the events in question,” a club statement read.

“Collingwood was not aware or informed of the fact the matter was with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority at the time of Allan’s appointment.

“Regrettably, a completely unforeseen scenario has since emerged from the AFL investigation into what took place at GWS in 2015.”

Balme has since been appointed football chief at Richmond, with Allan’s absence leaving Collingwood’s football department in a parlous state heading into a make-or-break year for Buckley.