MONTEGO BAY, St James — The influential and long-serving league director of the St James Football Association, Lilly-Mae Crawford, and her assistant, Tracey Reid, were on Wednesday axed from their jobs following a meeting of the board at the FA’s offices on Cottage Road.

President of the St James FA, Texchus Nembhard, confirmed to the Observer on Wednesday evening that both women had been relieved of their duties as paid employees of the FA.

Nembhard, who was elected to serve his first term as president in November last year, said the women’s persistence in “questioning my authority in public”, among other issues, led to the decision.

Meanwhile, both women have denied the allegations against them and Reid, who said she had earlier indicated she would be stepping down to start a new job on September 1, told the Observer, “If he said that, then the president is a liar.”

Crawford, who would have celebrated her 16th year as a member of the organisation this month, said she “had no knowledge of what he is talking about”.

Nembhard, a retired police sergeant, said both women would remain as members of the executive as “they were elected by the delegates and only the delegates can remove them… but as of now, they are not employees of the FA any longer”.

While he did not want to get into much details over the removal of the women, Nembhard said both had been spoken to about their behaviour in the past but things only got worse and the board was forced to take a decision.”

In the short term, he said the office would be manned by vice-president Brian Miller and board members Gregory Daley and Juraney Quarrie, but they were now in the process of seeking someone to take over as the office administrator.

Nembhard rubbished reports of the office closing, saying, “How can we close the football office when there are competitions going on?”

A defiant Reid told the Observer that she could not be fired.

“My services cannot be terminated,” she said, having indicated to vice-president David Watt and general secretary Bruce Gaynor earlier that she would be taking up a new job come September 1.

She said she was not at the meeting as she was making preparations for her new job.

Reid, who is also the coach of Granville FC in the Western Confederation Super League competition, said she had never undermined the president’s dictates.

“No such thing happened,” she told the Observer. “Every directive given by the president is always carried out and this sounds more like a personal agenda.”

Crawford, who was at the FA’s offices when she spoke to the Observer yesterday, said she was awaiting her letter of termination and would “then take it from there,”. She, however, declined to be drawn into whether she would be seeking legal advice.