Keith steps down and Toby steps up

The Northern Premier League has announced that long-serving Keith Brown has stepped down as vice chairman but will stay on the board as a director and member of the Executive Committee. 

Keith’s place as VC is taken by Toby Macormac, chairman of National League North side Warrington Town. Both changes took immediate effect at a board meeting on Sunday 11th August.

Keith has served the NPL since 1979 when, as secretary of Matlock Town, he joined the NPL board. This makes him the League’s longest-serving director. He also served as the NPL’s FA representative between 2007 and 2016. He was awarded the NPL Merit Award in 2013 and is a Life Member of the League.

League chairman Mark Harris paid tribute to Keith. “How Keith managed to combine club duties, league responsibilities and fighting our corner at the FA with being a school governor is beyond me. But he managed it superbly. Thankfully, his wisdom and knowledge will not be lost to the board or myself. As my mentor, I owe Keith a debt I can never repay. However, I look forward to working with him for as long as he wishes to work with us.”

Taking Keith’s place as Vice Chairman is Toby Macormac. Toby returned to the NPL board as an independent member after taking Warrington Town into the National League at the end of the 2022/3 season. The move to Vice Chair has been made possible by an independent Governance Review, whose recommendations included enabling club aligned or independent members to take either, or both, the chair and vice chair roles. The change was approved unanimously by member clubs at their AGM in June.

Commenting on his new role, Toby said “It’s an honour and a privilege to be stepping into this role for a League steeped in history and I’m looking forward to being a major part of creating more to enable the NPL to become even stronger. It’s a big position to fill made even larger by having to follow someone as knowledgeable and experienced as Keith Brown. I look forward to meeting new clubs on my travels and assisting clubs wherever I can to enable them to move forward at the same time as ensuring the high standards of the NPL are met in line with League and FA requirements.“

Photo Credit: Darren Murphy