FORMER St Kilda captain Danny Frawley declined to support club president Rod Butterss and his board last night as club greats despaired over the infighting at Moorabbin and radio personality Steve Bedwell outlined his challenge to the present administration.

Bedwell, a former colleague of Frawley's at radio station Triple M, said his rival ticket, dubbed the Spirit of 66, would be announced late next week.

He also revealed that Butterss had threatened yesterday to sue him if his criticisms of Butterss and his running of the club breached defamation laws during what is set to be a long and damaging leadership campaign.

In a further blow to the Saints' stability, the club confirmed last night that its chief financial officer, James van Beek, had resigned.

Bedwell, who would not reveal the make-up of his leadership ticket, said he had received strong interest in his challenge from past players.

But AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou warned Bedwell to steer clear: "People who think they can challenge and do a better job than Rod Butterss and his board, I think should think carefully and think in the best interests of the football club and allow the board to manage itself as it has done very soundly."

Former skipper Frawley said the past week's infighting had been disappointing. "I think we've just got to let the dust settle and be professional about the whole place. There seems to be a lot of hot air at the moment," he said.

Asked if he supported the present board and president, Frawley replied: "Let the dust settle and we'll see what happens." Asked if he would rule out being a part of Bedwell's ticket, Frawley was again evasive. "Let the dust settle … I haven't thought about it," he said. The former Saints captain said he knew Bedwell but "only as a media performer".

Bedwell called on Butterss to spill all board positions at the end of the year but offered a compromise in which several members of his ticket would join the present board, replacing Butterss and other directors.

"We want to restore harmony with as smooth as possible a transition," he said. In response, Butterss said he was "not even contemplating" any spill of board positions.

Bedwell tried to allay fears he had no business experience by saying he would be a "figurehead" leader who would "look after the emotion" while other directors handled "the business side of things".

But Butters said it would be "very, very difficult" to run a modern football club without extensive business credentials.

Bedwell lashed out at Butterss over his handling of the redevelopment of Moorabbin and the club's relationship with former coach Grant Thomas.

Butters strongly defended his record last night, saying his board had the backing of the club's members. "These sort of comments are highly, highly disruptive and my door is always open and always has been."

Club stalwart Darrel Baldock revealed his concern about this week's infighting and the club's underwhelming on-field performance. "It (infighting) has been going on for years. I just can't understand what's happening because they had the world at their feet, they've got very good supporters but the way they are going, they are going to lose them," he said.

Another club favourite, Stewart Loewe, said he was not interested "at this stage" in seeking a board position.He said the events of this week "could have been handled a bit better" but supported Butterss' presidency.

With AAP