Neil McKissock is the new chairman of the Essendon Football Club following tonight's Annual General Meeting. Incumbent Graeme McMahon resigned the position he has held for the past seven years at the completion of the meeting and vice-chairman McKissock was immediately voted in as his replacement. Ray Horsburgh was voted in as new vice-chairman and Tim Jonas was retained as finance director. As has been his way as Chairman, McMahon did not go quietly and he had some words of advice for both the club and the AFL.

In his final address as chairman, McMahon called for the Board of Governance structure to be retained and he re-iterated calls for the board size to be reduced from 10 to seven claiming it would make Essednon Football Club an even more efficient business and save money.

McMahon also called for the club to retain the services of Kevin Sheedy. He said Sheedy had intimated his desire to continue coaching the club and McMahon said the club should waste no time in re-signing someone with such a ""sensational"" record.

McMahon again called on the AFL to remove the salary cap concessions given to Brisbane and Sydney and to make it a fair playing field for all. He said the AFL must also set in stone its desire for a 16-team competition so all clubs could move forward with some certainty.

In other news to come out of the meeting, former Bomber tough-nut Sean Denham was made a life member of the club in what was an extremely popular decision. Denham, who was a member of Essendon's 1993 Premiership side, received warm applause from the 300-plus audience. Long-serving board member Beverly Knight was also made a life member of the club. Knight first joined the Essendon board in 1993.