Dick wants Reynolds to step down

Tom Dick believes his resignation should not the last

Tom Dick believes Glentoran chairman Stafford Reynolds should follow his lead and resign as the Roy Walker managerial saga rumbles on.

The Glens were hugely embarrassed after Walker lost the manager's post, two days after being appointed.

Dick stepped down as Director of Football on Thursday.

"I do not see how he (Reynolds) can stay," said Dick, who also criticised Walker for failing to know he needed a Uefa A coaching badge to take the job.

Dick told the News Letter: "After all, it was the chairman who sent a letter telling the IFA that Alan McDonald was the new caretaker manager when we were parading Roy Walker as our new man in charge.

Walker, who could not take up the post because he does not hold a Uefa A coaching licence, said on Wednesday that he had been asked to join the Glens board but added that he would only consider the proposal if Dick resigned.

"Here is an educated Irish League pundit (Walker) who has been working with the BBC for the past seven years," said Dick.

"Being the expert he is, did he not know that he needed coaching badges to manage an Irish League club with a Uefa licence?

"If Roy Walker wants to be on the Glentoran board, that's fine. I look forward to seeing the contribution that he will make."

Glentoran board member Cecil McKeag also quit the club, in support of Dick.

Walker claimed that new boss Alan McDonald had made clear he does not want him involved with the club.

I feel I've been a pawn in a very messy game and that there's another agenda on the go Roy Walker

"Alan McDonald has stated that he wants no involvement with me at the club. So it would be very difficult for me to find a role with the current situation."

Walker is convinced that that the Uefa licencing issue could have been overcome to ensure that he took the job later this summer.

"It didn't need to be an issue if Alan McDonald, who is an A licence holder, had stayed on in the capacity that he had agreed to, as caretaker manager.

"Certainly the B licence would have been completed by the first week of July and I was scouring Europe for the best available A licence course.

"The IFA has a letter dated the same day I was appointed (24 May), confirmed McDonald as caretaker, unbeknownest to me and I suspect unbeknownest to him (Alan McDonald).

"Then, the IFA received a letter confirming Alan McDonald as manager until May 2008. That was the very next day.

"This letter stated that it was signed by the chairman (Stafford Reynolds) on behalf of the board but I can confirm that several board members were not aware of this."

Walker insists that there were "a lot of options that would have made this an easy fit".

"This did not need to be the debacle that it turned out.

"I feel I've been a pawn in a very messy game and that there's another agenda on the go."