Jim Phipps quits as fallout from below-par Sheffield United season begins

Jim Phipps joined Sheffield United in 2013 but has left inside just three years.

Phipps, announcing the news on his Facebook page, said that he has elected to leave his dual roles with a ‘heavy heart’, having first joined the Blades back in the autumn of 2013.

Further boardroom restructuring is likely to follow the departure of US-born Phipps after a difficult season at S2, with the pre-season promotion favourites finishing the 2015-16 League One campaign in a hugely disappointing position.

On his decision to leave, Phipps said: “With (a) heavy heart, I write to inform you that I have tendered my resignation as co-chairman of the club and as a club director with immediate effect.

“Since September 2013, I have enjoyed the enormous joy and honour of being a part of the Sheffield United Football Club.

“Not long after becoming a part of the club, I became aware – as did my wife and family – that I had caught the ‘bug’.

“Leaving the board cannot change my feeling for the Blades. As they say, “Once a Blade, always a Blade!

“What I have not been able to give you, and what we all desire, I wish for you with all my heart: Serial promotions and a return to the Premier League. God bless and up the Blades.”

Phipps arrived as principal advisor to Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud after he became joint owner following his purchase of a 50 per cent stake in the club’s holding company Blades Leisure Ltd from owner Kevin McCabe.

Prince Abdullah became co-chairman alongside McCabe, with the prince’s son, Abdulraham Bin Abdullah, Phipps and Turkish businessman Selahattin Baki all subsequently installed as directors – Phipps later becoming joint chairman.