Dulwich Hamlet have confirmed that Peter Crouch has stepped away from the role as a director on the board ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Ex-England striker Crouch joined the board of his former club in June 2021 and Dulwich said his final contribution was the creation of a “three-year plan for matters relating to what happens on the pitch”.
Gavin Rose’s side were in contention for the National League South play-offs for much of last season before their challenge tailed away and they finished tenth. That was still the highest league finish in their modern history.
The Hamlet haven’t ruled out Crouch working with them again but say he wants to focus on his media work.
“We were impressed with Peter’s contribution at the end of last season,” chairman Ben Clasper said on the club’s official website “Especially when we saw that his feedback on the director of football role included practical recommendations on next steps and future management of the club, and we look forward to actioning those ideas with the new appointments for the coming season.
“We were also pleased that Peter’s relationship with the club and those that work here day-in, day-out has clearly developed to the point that he’s keen to return and keep up to date with our progress and we look forward to welcoming him back.”
Dulwich have appointed former player Dumebi Dumaka to the board. Dumaka, who was part of the squad which earned promotion to National League South in 2018, has passed the FA’s Owners’ and Directors’ test. He joins Dulwich as company director and director of football.
Clasper said: “This is the end of a long journey for us as a board and we wanted to make sure that we were ready to keep the momentum up from our season’s work with Peter to define how this role could work on a longer term basis.
“We started conversations with Dumebi during the season and progressed things slowly to make sure there were no expectation gaps and to give the board the chance to get to know Dumebi professionally and personally and to make sure Dumebi had visibility into what he is signing up for.
“This is a key role as by definition a club owned and run by fans is far less likely to have anyone from a football background and we look forward to seeing Dumebi deliver on his areas of our three-year plan and provide more board level support to the team management.”
In further changes, Tom Cullen has left his role as a director and head of media and communication.
“The fact that a club would not exist were it not for a particular individual is an irritatingly overused phrase in football but I don’t hesitate to use it in Tom’s case,” Clasper said. “I am sorry to see him step down but far less sorry that it will give me a chance to tell others about his part in our recent story and hope that in stepping down he can enjoy the club without having to worry about the content of the next board meeting.
“We have always discussed as a board the importance of refreshing and recharging and this is a more than well-deserved break for Tom. It is in stark contrast with other organisations in our game where racking up as many board positions and clinging on for as many decades as possible is the source of so many problems.
“I am proud that our board see completing a good job and handing over to a fresh pair of hands to solve the next piece of the puzzle as success and look forward to all of us being able to follow Tom’s example.”
Tom Gale is returning to the club in a media and communications role.
Clasper added: “Since 2018 we have been slowly rebuilding the club and as part of our commitment to reinvest everything we earn back into the club to the benefit of the fans we have been planning a role to help us communicate better with our fans and local community to make sure they hear from us and know that their voice will be heard in return.
“When the prospect of Tom Bale returning to take on that role was raised it fell into the ‘too good to be true’ category as Tom was so instrumental in building those links between the club and its community.
“Tom loves the club but is equally ready to stand up for the differing views in the fanbase and address the difficult subjects. If a club is fan-owned and fan-run it is critical that media and communications work in both directions and we know we can trust Tom to manage that.”