Athletics in the UK: The Rise and Fall of the BAF

82 A chief executive at last Malcolm Jones became chief executive of the BAF on 18 November 1991 and one of his first tasks was to recruit a new financial controller. This he did and Steve Gledhill took up his position on 27 January 1992. Although Malcolm Jones had been an excellent financial controller, he was not an unqualified success as chief executive and, after only sixteen months in the post, resigned on 2 April 1993 in controversial circumstances which, perhaps inevitably, gave yet another excuse for political opportunism. Jones’ performance had been a cause of growing concern for several months and came to a head spontaneously at a meeting of the management board when a discussion led to a unanimous expression of a lack of confidence in the chief executive. This was a very delicate situation that needed to be handled quickly, sensitively and confidentially. Unfortunately, it was bungled. The chairman, Bill Evans, who had been present at the meeting, was tasked with informing the President, McAllister, who had not been present, of the situation and with meeting Jones urgently. However, it was not until six days later that Evans met Jones, by which time the matter leaked to the press and ran virtually out of control. McAllister wrongly claimed that he had known nothing of the growing problem and Evans sat on his hands. Throughout, Jones acted with dignity and, finding himself in an impossible position, resigned. Suddenly, the fledgling BAF found itself without its chief executive and, for the second time in its brief life, it had lost a key figure. Upon the formation of the BAF, Northern Irishman Les Jones (pictured) had been elected Vice- Chairman. Jones was a leading light in Northern Ireland athletics, where he was the chairman of the Northern Ireland Association, and was also the senior team manager of the Great Britain athletics team. A popular figure on the athletic circuit, Les Jones was tipped for a high position in European or world athletics. On 2 March 1992, Les Jones suffered a fatal heart attack and was found dead in his hotel room in Genoa where he was leading the British