PLYMOUTH Argyle deputy chairman Paul Stapleton has denied that this week's transfer of power within the Home Park boardroom was forced upon the Coca-Cola Championship club by last season's cash- flow predicament.

The Pilgrims struggled to stay afloat on and off the pitch last term. They had to work hard to avoid relegation to League One, and their income was a long way below their expenditure. That led to the prospect of some non-playing staff being made redundant this year.

Stapleton stepped down as chairman on Thursday, when he was replaced in that role by Sir Roy Gardner. Along with new director Keith Todd, Gardner has purchased a 13 per-cent stake in Argyle. Japanese director Yasuaki Kagami and his American business partner George Synan, who joined Kagami on the board this week, have a 38 per-cent stake in the club.

Stapleton remains on the board, along with Robert Dennerly and Tony Wrathall – two other survivors of the previous regime, but he no longer calls the shots in the corridors of power at Home Park. When he was asked by the Western Morning News if the club's financial problems had forced him to step down and to allow Kagami and Gardner and colleagues to take control, he replied: "It was not forced on us, but the cash-flow problem did not help.

"It brought it home to the existing board that we needed help. We needed to advance the club further. We had Mr Kagami and George already involved, which helped, and we felt that bringing in Sir Roy and Keith was the next stage."

Stapleton added: "It was not very nice, at the end of last year, thinking about relegation. I was the one who tended to get to see the figures in advance of everybody else, and looking at the figures for League One was not too pleasant. It was time [for a change in the boardroom]."

The man who heads the board now is Gardner, who was previously chairman of Manchester United plc. He will have the ultimate responsibility of deciding whether any staff redundancies at Home Park are needed, and, if they are, how many there should be.

On Thursday, Gardner told the media: "We need to look at the staffing and, when we've decided how many people we need to go forward, we'll talk to the staff. Shortly after that, we'll talk to you."

Despite last season's struggles, Stapleton remained confident that he had left the club in decent shape when he relinquished the chairmanship. He said: "We have had five years of Championship football, and we have reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup [in 2007]. Last season was a bit more problematic, but there were still some great feelings.

"Winning at Wolverhampton, and winning at Blackpool near the end of the season. They were emotional occasions. Those feelings come with football. That's the passion that you have for the team that you've supported for so many years.

"I would not change a moment of it. It has been with great pride that I've taken this club forward. We have moved from being mid-table in the old fourth division to being an established Championship club."