Eddie McGuire says he holds no ill-feeling towards anyone at the Collingwood Football Club, despite his recent exit after a 23-year tenure as club president.
Speaking for the first time publicly since his resignation, McGuire denied claims from Footy Classified co-host Caroline Wilson, that board members Paul Licuria and Peter Murphy had "turned on" him and led to his hasty exit.
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"I didn't discuss (my resignation), I made the decision myself," McGuire said.
"I looked at it and I thought this is becoming something that is too much of a lightning rod and I want to do the right thing.
"The last thing I'm ever going to be is a rat on people at the Collingwood Football Club.
"I'm going to go and barrack for the 'Pies, I'm a Pie till I die. I love the club and I love AFL football, and I want everything to do well.
"I'm not one of those people that walks away hoping there will be schadenfreude and everything falls on its head, quite the opposite."
McGuire said he had a "fair idea" of who had leaked the club's Do Better Report to the media, adding that it would be a "total shock" if it had come from someone on the Collingwood board.
The 56-year-old also insisted that his relationship with Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was in a good place.
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Buckley's silence during the racism saga that has engulfed the club during the off-season has been criticised, and McGuire admitted that he had advised staff that he would step forward instead.
"It's such an emotional topic and a lot of people wanted to step forward and I said don't," he said.
"That's not because I'm a martyr, it's because we want to go forward."
McGuire also expanded on his now-infamous "proud" comment during the press conference where the club addressed the report.
"When I spoke with the other directors before we went out, (Collingwood board member) Jodie Sizer was very strong on the fact that we should take hold of this and be proud of where we're going," he said.
"There was a club statement that we'd made that actually had an apology in it. Jodie was there and she was proud of what we were trying to do.
"I accept what I said, I'm not handing off any blame to anybody else. Here is the situation: we are proud of what we are trying to achieve and where we've got to and I look back and I can say we've made a really bold step forward in trying to do the right thing.
"A couple of days later I thought it would be better if I get out of here and resign and give the club fresh and clear air to do things, and that's why I resigned."
McGuire admitted that he had struggled in the days following his teary exit from the club, but said he was in a better space now.
"It was the hardest day of my life outside of personal tragedies," he said.
"It was something that meant so much to me. It was the right thing to do, I accepted the responsibility.
"I'm not laying any blame to anybody and please don't think (that) when I said Jodie Sizer before, I wrote the thing, I said what I said.
"I was really, really sad and it affected me greatly, but I'm okay now because you get up, you dust yourself off, and you go again."
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