Horsley quits Rovers amid war of words
FOREST Green chairman Dale Vince has defended Ecotricity's running of the club after the resignation of legendary director Trevor Horsley.
Horsley has had a 22-year association with the Nailsworth outfit, overseeing their transformation from part-time minnows to mainstays of the Conference.
The club's second largest shareholder, he has now chosen to walk away for "reasons that are not related to football" and suggested he no longer had a say in major decisions.
Horsley said: "I put some questions to Dale and he came back with some answers, but I don't think it will work the way I want it to work.
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"Dale runs it his way. He's made some good decisions and invested a lot of money, and I would never knock him for that, but it's not the way I'm used to working.
"It's a very difficult time for me at the moment, with the fruition on the football side coming good, and to walk away now for reasons that are not related to football is very difficult."
But Ecotricity chief Vince, whose company rescued Rovers from financial ruin when they took over in September 2010, insisted it was Horsley's decision to take a back-seat role.
"I don't acknowledge the description Trevor gave," said Vince.
"He complains about not being informed but he kept himself out of the loop.
"I like to involve the whole team. We have a good discussion and make decisions between us.
"Trevor hasn't been to a board meeting all year so he's not close to the decisions that are being made.
"He's drifted away from the club and the board and that's a shame. It's a mistake and I'll think he regret it later.
"Forest Green have turned a corner and I hope we'll find ourselves in the Football League before long.
"I wanted him to be a part of that and to stay on the board, so he can benefit from all the years he's put in, but he's opted not to."
Horsley is rightly credited as the driving force behind Rovers' rise from the Southern League to the top tier of non-League football.
He also bankrolled the move to a new stadium in 2006, but he was forced to make a plea for new investment three years later as the club struggled to pay off spiralling debts.
Horsley's decision comes a month after the surprise departure of long-serving secretary and head of matchday operations Colin Peake.
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