A community stalwart who played a monumental role in helping a football club build its award-winning home stadium has announced he is leaving the boardroom.
Dartford council leader Jeremy Kite has revealed he is retiring from his other role as a director of Dartford Football Club after more than 15 years.
The Conservative Party was in opposition at the borough council when board members, including chairman Steve Irving, sat before a committee to explain the problems the club faced without a home of its own.
However, after years of being told no funding was available, Cllr Kite and his colleagues saw the opportunity to build a stadium to help revive the club.
When his party took control of the council in 2003, he led the team tasked with bringing the club home, working with directors, architects, football authorities and supporters during the two years of planning.
Princes Park Stadium was eventually opened on November 11, 2006.
Cllr Kite was invited to join the board as a director in 2009 because of his “obvious passion and dedication to the club”, becoming a “much-loved and vocal” member.
He has now decided to retire from his role, but to honour his “tireless work”, the club has named him an honorary vice president.
Cllr Kite said: “I am leaving for entirely positive reasons, and my attachment to the club has not changed.
“I am as in love with it today as I was the first day I walked in and started meeting everyone.
“It has brought me so many happy memories, and the day Princes Park opened was one of the best days of my life.
“I am leaving as I have a rather old-fashioned view that directors have to have sufficient time to commit to steering the club. The truth is that I am busier than ever with work, and my personal life has changed with marriage on the horizon next year.
“As many supporters know, directors work incredibly hard behind the scenes, and I do not want to sit in the background and be a passenger in that while my friends carry the burden.
“The last six months to a year have seen an incredible amount of work and time gone into restructuring and planning for the future, and whilst my board colleagues were a bit surprised when I explained what I was thinking, I think they appreciate it is the perfect time for me to step back.”
His first Dartford match was back in the 70s, but it was not until his work with the council and later involvement at board level that his love affair with the club began.
Cllr Kite added: “I went through a period where I never missed a game, home or away, and I loved the company and the people there. It has been an amazing experience.
“The years I have spent on the board have been filled with too many highlights to recall. Various promotions; the respect we earned in fixtures at Luton Town, Port Vale and elsewhere.
“I am enormously proud of the small part I was able to play in bringing Dartford FC home, not just to any stadium, but to one of the finest and most innovative grounds in non-league football.
“I am proud not just of what Princes Park has done for the club, but the way in which it has fulfilled the ambitions we all set for the wider community.
“The enormity of what we had all achieved – and what it would mean to this whole community – is something everyone should be proud of.
“In no small measure, the success of the club and the part it plays in the community is down to the dedicated, happy and enthusiastic board who have shown me nothing but friendship and support.
“They have done me the great honour of giving me an honorary role in the background, which means I can still come to games and I will definitely come to as many as I can.
“Some supporters may know that directors sometimes put money into clubs, and I have converted my loans into a gift, so the club will not have to pay me back for anything.
“I am delighted to do that – it is my way of paying back a little bit to my friends on the board and at the club”
Chairman Steve Irving has since paid tribute to his friend and fellow board member.
He said: “It is fair to say that without Jeremy, the club would not be where it is today. He was one of those who understood our vision when the councils before him were not interested.
“However, this goes well beyond politics, because over the years, he has become a friend who has always had the best interests of the club at heart.
“We have so many happy memories as board members together; there are too many to mention.
“As a board, we would like to offer our thanks for writing off the loan to the club and for his tireless work and support over the years.
“Making him an honorary vice president is the most fitting way we could show how much his work and love for the club have meant to us all, and we will love to see him attend as many games as he can from his new position.”
