Kevin McCabe has quit the board of Valad Property Group after receiving the final $56.5m payment for the European property assets he sold to the company.

The resignation of Mr McCabe, chairman of the Sheffield United football club, was announced yesterday, along with the departure of fellow non-executive director Ian Robertson.

The two men, who are friends but have no business connections, had been board members since August 2007, when Mr McCabe, sold his Scarborough Group's British and European property interests to Valad.

Mr McCabe had been tipped to play a major role in the revival of the troubled Australian company, which lost $1.49bn last financial year.

The Australian