12:00pm Wednesday 6th September 2006
By Craig Nelson
When Kris Stewart resigned as chairman of AFC Wimbledon yesterday, the fans' internet forums were awash with an equal number of well wishes and conspiracy theories.
Why has he stepped down? Why now? Is his decision linked with other resignations at the club?
Reporter Craig Nelson caught up with Kris on Tuesday to find out the answers.
Why have you resigned Kris?
"It's been four years and four months since I started this job and I can tell you it's quite hard work.
"I was involved before AFC Wimbledon was even founded, trying to stop the move to Milton Keynes and engaging with the club at that time.
"Over the last few years I have to stress that my life became very interesting and very challenging. I've learnt a huge amount. Basically, the club became my life.
"I could have only ever allowed that to carry on for a while and there comes a time when you need to stop.
"It's important that you recognise when that time comes. Recently I have come to realise that the time is now."
Was there a trigger at the weekend?"There has been no particular trigger. A number of times in recent months I have thought about myself and what I want to do with the rest of my life and what's best for the club.
"This weekend I spent a fair bit of time talking to my closest friends, family and colleagues, getting the advice I needed.
"I was happy that this was the right time to go. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to trigger the decision.
"Of course sometimes things happen, some good, some horrible. Things happen all the time, but you get used to that."
You just had enough of the job?"It's not so much that I have had enough, I just needed to do something different and if I feel I need to do something different then the football club needs somebody different in charge."
How do you feel, no turning back?
"Right now I am feeling quite good and have done for the last couple of days. It was really Sunday night and Monday morning that I finally decided what it was that I was going to do.
"I am going to the (Slough) game tonight (Tuesday, September 6) and that's going to be weird. And I'm going to the game on Saturday and that's going to be weird too.
"Anything that has been such a big part of your life suddenly changing is going to feel weird and I suppose once I have one or two drinks I might feel a bit emotional.
What now?
"My plan now is to rediscover what it's like to go to football matches as a supporter, which I haven't done for the last five or six years. I plan to find myself a spot on the Tempest End, somewhere I feel comfortable, just like I used to do at Plough Lane.
"I have some other things going on in my life that I want to concentrate on as well and I am sure it will all pan out.
What are your parting thoughts about the AFC Wimbledon experiment?
"When you stand back for a second, and in my opinion people at the club don't do this enough, you have to say wow'. It's unbelievable what we have achieved.
"Just over four years ago there was nothing. On that afternoon, May 28, 2002, there was nothing. Now we have a club with its own ground playing football at Ryman Premier level.
"Who would have dared to imagine, just those few years ago, that we would have been anywhere near where we are now.
"If you want to call it an experiment then it has to have been a successful one. The challenge now is to keep that going."
Are you sure you want to leave that challenge to someone else?
"A good deal of thought has gone into this decision. It's not just something that has sprung up in my mind. It's something that has been playing on my mind for quite some time and I am relieved to have finally made the right decision.
So what does the future hold for the club, without you at the helm?
"What happens now is really up to Erik, the board of directors, the Dons Trust and the supporters. I can tell you that running the club is a massive undertaking, even if it's only for a week.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Erik decided to take the role on full-time, nothing in football does surprise me. I have already wished him luck."
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