XAVIER Campbell has resigned as Essendon chief executive officer and the club is on the hunt for four new directors as the off-season turmoil continues at Tullamarine. 

AFL.com.au believes Campbell informed new Bombers president David Barham of his decision on Sunday night that he will be exiting his post of nine years, and the club made the news public on Wednesday morning. 

Campbell had earlier on Sunday sat through an Essendon board meeting which sacked Ben Rutten as coach. He had been a supporter of Rutten, and was against the club’s belated and embarrassingly unsuccessful pursuit of Alastair Clarkson.

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"Dave deserves to have someone that’s absolutely aligned and in behind the plan and got the energy to deliver on that plan and that’s not me now," Campbell told reporters on Wednesday morning. 

"And that's not good, it's not bad, it's just a good timing for me to step away and I'm very comfortable with that."

The departure of Campbell follows that of former president Paul Brasher, who was rolled by Barham in a board meeting two Sundays ago.

On Wednesday, Brasher and Simon Madden quit the board immediately, football director Sean Wellman announced he would depart as soon as the club found a replacement, while finance director and vice-president Peter Allen will step down in December.

All four cited the need for the board directors to be aligned to the vision of new president David Barham as their reason for stepping down. 

Brasher said there was "absolutely no bitterness" but the club needed united leadership as it moved towards an off-season of change. 

“A good board will always have healthy debate and a diversity of views on issues affecting the organisation. In most cases, once everybody has had his or her say, the Board moves on united in support of the majority view,” he said. 

“Occasionally though, on the most fundamental issues, directors who hold minority views are best to get out of the way so that the Board can go forward totally united in implementing the decisions which have been made. That is what is happening here."

While the Bombers have repeatedly failed on-field, off-field they have been a financial powerhouse under Campbell, with record levels of sponsorship and membership.

Campbell was only recently re-contracted for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but Barham's boardroom challenge on the Sunday of round 23 signalled the massive changes which have since come.

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It is expected other board members, possibly Simon Madden and Sean Wellman, will also depart the club, while Adrian Dodoro, general manager list and recruiting, has long been under pressure, with the club not winning a final since 2004.

Campbell impressively steered Essendon out of the carnage of its self-inflicted drugs program of 2012 and, before re-committing to the Bombers as CEO in 2020, had been sounded out by AFL headquarters to join its high-end operations.

In a statement released by the club, Campbell said rebuilding the Bombers in the wake of the 2016 drug suspensions was "one of the more difficult tasks" he expected to face in his professional career, but he believed the task had been achieved.

He called for unity and purpose under new president Barham as the club sought to rebuild its on-field fortunes.  

"With the many strong building blocks that are firmly in place at Essendon, the decision to appoint a new coach and a bold vision under new president Dave Barham, there is an opportunity to take the club on to finals success and ultimately, a premiership. And I hope as much as anyone that we do that," Campbell said. 

"What this needs is; a focused and well-supported president, a board united in its intent, strategy and voice, working in lockstep with management, supported by loyal and committed members and fans who believe in the club, the direction it's heading and the team that can take it there. Our playing group deserves nothing less than this. Our AFLW team deserves this. Our fans and members deserve it and are ready for it."

Barham thanked Campbell for his service to the club, and congratulated him for his work to secure Essendon's future, particularly with the elimination of the club's debt, the building of The Hangar headquarters at Tullamarine and the commercial success in securing long-term, lucrative sponsors. 

- with AAP and staff writers