Julian Rhodes wants to draw a firm line under the Archie Christie saga.

He accepts that the differing version of events emanating from Valley Parade has stirred up some confusion.

Did Christie quit as head of player development for health reasons as City made out? Or was it down to deciding that the offer of a more senior position as the club’s Football CEO “wasn’t for him”?

Then again, could the conspiracy theorists be on the money with their views of a major fall-out with Mark Lawn?

Rhodes is quick to disappoint those after something more juicy by dismissing claims of a power struggle between two combustible characters.

The joint-chairman insists there was nothing underhand about the events of last week.

And while the suddenness of Christie’s departure caught most on the hop, maybe it did not come as such a surprise within the boardroom.

Rhodes said: “Archie has been resigning on a number of occasions in the past and we’ve talked him round. That was one of the reasons we were looking at a job promotion. It would have given him a bit more security here and more responsibility.

“There were things that he was very good at. The deals that he did probably only he could have done and they brought in decent amounts of money.

“However, he resigned last Thursday and I was pretty certain that he meant it this time, so I didn’t bother trying to talk him out of it.

“I’m disappointed because it means that with the good things that he did it leaves a hole which needs filling. I don’t believe we have anybody at the club who can fulfil some of the skills that he had.

“Archie asked me to say it was for health reasons and he did have several bouts of illness. He had been in hospital and there were a few times when he didn’t come up to Bradford because he wasn’t so good.

“That was definitely an issue but there were probably all sorts of other things that contributed towards it.

“What people need to realise is that Archie was working for nothing. He lives in Uxbridge (in London), did a lot of travelling and I suspect that when you’re in that situation it wouldn’t take much for somebody to decide they can’t be bothered to do it anymore.

“He doesn’t have a great affiliation for the club. Yes, he enjoyed working here but he needs to go out and earn some money as well.

“A lot of people running this club are doing it in their free time and we still have to earn a wage elsewhere. Everyone has to put food on the table and Archie is no different.

“It was probably made more difficult for him in that situation because he lives down south.”

Christie, who would not have been paid in the new role for at least the first year, said he had spent a month considering the offer before turning it down.

Having said no, Rhodes made it clear that there was no pressure from the club to push him out the door.

“Archie certainly wasn’t pushed by any stretch of the imagination,” said Rhodes.

“We were talking to him about a promotion. There’s no conspiracy. Likewise, I don’t think people should read into it that everything’s collapsing at the club.”

The development squad which was the crux of Christie’s role will continue. City are expected to promote from within and current head of youth Peter Horne would appear the obvious candidate to take the extra responsibilities on board.

But there is no replacement for the wheeler-dealer nous that marked the big Scot’s breathless spell in West Yorkshire.

“The development squad is something we want to carry on with,” said Rhodes. “We’ve been talking about a development system for years, right back to when Nicky Law first mentioned it. Archie came in and picked up the mantle. It’s something that he’d done at Dagenham and it has worked well.

“It’s the other area (of Archie’s job) that we need to look at. Archie was a great net-worker, good at getting his foot in the door at places.

“He was like a dog with a bone at times when it came to doing a deal.”

It was thanks to Christie that City secured a potentially lucrative £2million package from Everton for George Green. And he was also responsible for getting Manchester United to cough up a percentage of the loan fees they have received from Tom Cleverley, thought to be well over £100,000.

Rhodes added: “In George’s case, we would probably have accepted a similar deal as we had with previous lads. But Archie took that one on and we ended up with something much better.

“It helped that the lad scored a hat-trick in his trial game but that only came about because Archie knew Harry Redknapp and got it arranged for him to play at Tottenham.

“Archie also got us in at Man United and helped us receive some money which I don’t think anybody else would have done.

“It never crossed our mind there might be something (in Cleverley’s contract) there for us. Archie was responsible for putting it in place and then we went to see their finance director to get everything agreed.

“So while player development will be dealt with in-house with the current staff, the role of generating income may have to be someone external.

“It might end up being an agent on a job-by-job basis when needed. But it has to be somebody out there who is well connected.”

Few could have failed to notice Christie’s final comments thanking only one of the two owners. Rhodes insists he waved him into the sunset on good terms.

“Archie did one or two things that I disagreed with,” said Rhodes. “And maybe one or two of his signings won’t come off but that’s football.

“There were certain things that weren’t going his way and, like all of us, he gets frustrated about but we talked them through and everything’s fine.

“Looking back, there were more pluses than minuses.”