Soccer:Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow has decided to stand down from his role following the successful sale of the club.
Purslow was brought in by formers owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett in the summer of 2009 to initially look for further investment in the club.
However, he took on a more key role - alongside a newly-appointed chairman in Martin Broughton - last April when the Americans decided sell the club.
The pair helped negotiate a deal with New England Sports Ventures, who completed their €341 million takeover last week.
Purslow will remain as a non-executive director in an advisory capacity to the new owners. It is expected Broughton will also step down from his position in the near future once NESV have been brought up to speed with details of their new acquisition.
"I came to LFC to lead the club through a sale process to get the best overall deal including, vitally, the removal of the debt," Purslow told the club's website. "I am immensely proud of what we have all achieved.
"I now look forward to assisting the owners in any way I can at this exciting time as they drive the club forward to a bright future."
New England Sports Ventures chairman Tom Werner was grateful Purslow was remaining on board for the time being as a special adviser.
"We are delighted Christian has accepted our offer to help us and the club, given his great experience and love for Liverpool FC," said Werner. "We will now begin a global search process for a chief executive officer."
Purslow was a contentious figure on Merseyside and seen by many as the key facilitator of former manager Rafael Benitez's departure.
The Inter Milan boss was scathing yesterday in his assessment of Purslow, accusing him, as well as the previous owners, of being repsonsible for the rapid decline in Liverpool's fortunes over the last 18 months.
“After 86 points and finishing second, what changed?” he asked. “The Americans, they chose a new managing director and everything changed.
“The managing director Purslow) is involved in all the decisions: new lawyer, new chief of press, new manager, nine new players, new medical staff, new fitness coaches. They changed everything that we were doing in the past. So, if you want to ask again what was going on, it’s simple: they changed something and, at the end, they changed everything.”