Essendon have announced that club legend James Hird has resigned as senior coach, effective immediately.

The resignation follows board discussions after the club’s 112-point drubbing to Adelaide on Saturday.

Hird became emotional when discussing the impact the ASADA saga has had on his family, saying he was sorry for what they “had to endure”.

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Hird will be replaced by his assistant Matthew Egan, who has been with the club for four years.

“On Friday afternoon at Paul Little’s office, Paul said it was the board’s opinion that the club could never be truly free of the ASADA issue while I was the coach and he was the chairman,” Hird said.

“On Monday night, I agreed to tender my resignation to the football club, which was accepted.”

Hird appeared shattered as he read a prepared statement.

“I will never forget the people who stood up when most disappeared,” Hird said.

“To my family and firends, Tania, Stephanie, Tom, Alex and William – I’m truly sorry for what you have had to endure.

“In making this decision I hope we all get a chance to move on and enjoy how wonderful life really is.”

Hird said he hoped his departure would give the club the “space” it needed to overcome the supplements saga.

“I think the WADA appeal probably drove us back into the mire,” he said.

“From the industry, if every second day you pick up a paper and you read, listen and it’s about drugs, Essendon, it’s not good for our playing group.

“I’d love to be able to see them just play.”

The departing coach said he had fallen out of love with football as a result of the scandal.

“This has not been an easy journey.

“I don’t think there’s been anyone who’s been a part of the journey who hasn’t cracked. It’s changed all of us … it’s certainly changed me.

“I certainly don’t love the game like I used to.”

Hird’s departure caps a dreadful run for Essendon, from the time the supplements saga broke in February 2013.

After making the finals in his first year in charge, the club only managed an 11th-placed finish in 2012 and were booted out of the finals the following season as punishment for the peptides furore.

They were back in the finals under interim coach Mark Thompson in 2014, as Hird served a one-year suspension, but Thompson left the club prior to the start of the 2015 season.

Essendon players were exonerated by the AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal just before the new campaign, and they made a solid start to the season under Hird.

They won two of their first three matches – with a win over reigning premiers Hawthorn and a narrow loss to Sydney.

But the wheels fell off badly after WADA announced they would appeal the Anti-Doping Tribunal’s decision and the Bombers have now lost 10 of their past 11 matches.

Among those were 100+ point defeats to both St Kilda and Adelaide, which appears to have been the final straw for the club’s board.

Chairman Paul Little said he would remain in his position until the conclusion of the WADA appeal.

“When I inherited the role of chairman, I resolved to see the ASADA investigation through to its conclusion and allow the next chairman of the Essendon Football Club clear air,” he said.

“I believe it is vital to provide stability to the club.

“I plan to stay on as Chairman until I can steer the club and our players through the final stages of the WADA Appeal.”