JAMES Hird will not step down as Essendon coach despite losing his long-term friend David Evans as chairman on Saturday night, says former Bomber Matthew Lloyd.

 

Hird also has the support of the club's interim CEO Ray Gunston, who visited the coach at his Toorak home on Sunday morning.

 

Lloyd, who has spoken with his former teammate since Evans made his decision public on Saturday night, said Hird would not stand down.

 

"I've got no doubt he's up for the fight," Lloyd told Channel 9's The Sunday Footy Show.

 

"If you're an Essendon person at home, James Hird is going nowhere.  

 

"We saw him after the game on Friday night and he said, 'We're not drug cheats', and he genuinely believes that and he will not be walking away.

 

"Just because he's lost his chairman who he's good friends with doesn't mean he's walking away.

 

"He wants to coach this club and he'll continue to do so until someone tells him otherwise."

 

Gunston emerged from Sunday's meeting shortly before 12pm AEST and was asked if he was confident Hird was the man to continue coaching the club, to which he responded, "Yeah, no problem, yes".

 

Lloyd said he would be "guessing" if he suggested Hird would face a suspension for his role in the supplements scandal.

 

Evans stepped down after a health scare on Friday night that Tim Watson described as stemming from him being "completely and utterly burnt out".

 

Watson told Channel Seven he believed it was Evans' health that changed his stance after denying he was stepping down on Thursday night.

 

He also said he believed deputy chairman Paul Little would take over, possibly as early as Monday.

Contacted by AFL.com.au on Sunday afternoon, Little said he wouldn't be making comment until after the board has met, refusing to give a timeframe on when that will be. 

 

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said Little, the former managing director of Toll Holdings, would be up to the job. 

 

"He's obviously very respected and very experienced and if he's the chairman elect, that will be up to the board to determine that," Demetriou said from Melbourne Airport on Sunday.

 

"He's very capable and would obviously be someone who could do that job.

 

"That's entirely up to the Essendon board."

 

The ASADA report is expected to be released next month, which Demetriou said he didn't expect to change.

 

"The report is getting finalised, we know that, we're expecting it some time in August," he said.

 

"There's nothing that's happened in the last 48 hours, 72 hours, the last week that will put any of that at risk."

 

Demetriou is heading to the United States as part of fact finding mission involving AFLPA CEO Matt Finnis and a range of club presidents and CEOs to help address equalisation.

 

He spoke to Evans on Saturday afternoon when he found out of the former chairman's decision.

 

"It's very disappointing, particularly for David with all the work he's put in with this club and the efforts he's made," he said.

 

"He's been a great chairman of the Essendon Football Club and now that he's decided to make the decision to stand down, hopefully he can get back to perhaps some normality in his life.

 

"He's going to put his family first, which we obviously all respect."

 

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said Evans was "one of the best people that's been involved in football" and hoped he wouldn't be lost to the game.

 

"I hope at some stage he comes back involved in football in a big way," McGuire said.

 

"His legacy at Essendon is the redevelopment of Windy Hill, pulling the team together, breathing new life into the Bombers and helping them become a great club again.

 

"He's [going] through some hard circumstances that we all know at the moment but he's always put the club first and he's been a wonderful president, he's a wonderful person and I hope he's not lost to football."