Board place for Liney welcomed

The news was announced yesterday on Liney's return from holiday, and he said last night that he had been overwhelmed by e-mails and telephone calls offering congratulations.

Liney, who did no't seek re-election as Viking Supporters' Co-operartive chairman and supporter-director at the recent AGM, revealed that Rovers chairman John Ryan had invited him to serve on the Board before he made public his decision to stand down.

He said: "I didn't want the announcement to take place before I had officially resigned and given other people the opportunity to stand in case they felt my appointment as an independent director would have an adverse affect on the ability of someone to put themselves up.

"But when nobody put themselves forward it then became timely to make an announcement. In a sense it is irrelevant to me, because there is not a conflict of interest whether a new supporter-director is ultimately appointed.

"I would welcome someone putting their name forward as chairman of the Co-operative because the secretary, Ken Fear, is very much on his own.

"Obviously I am helping him in the handover phase, but I will be relinquishing the day-to-day responsibilities as soon as possible and when that happens Ken will have his hands full."

Although the two positions are not directly linked, Liney said that anyone with future ambitions to succeed him as supporter-director would find it useful having served on the Co-operative Board first."

In the absence of a supporter-director, Liney said he would continue to represent the fans' views whenever possible at Board level whilst

Fans intending to travel with the Supporters' Club to next Tuesday's Carling Cup tie at Plymouth, must book their seats no later than tonight.