The chief executive of JD Sports Fashion, Barry Bown, is to step down after 14 years in the job, collecting a near £900,000 pay-off but continuing to work as a consultant.

Bown, 52, who joined JD in 1984 said he wanted more leisure time and would be practising his golf after recently buying his first set of clubs, but he would also continue to offer advice to JD on business and store development.

JD shares lost 22p to close at £16.13, but are up from 900p a year ago.

The heads of JD's various retail chains, which include its main core sports fashion chain JD Sports as well as outdoorwear stores Blacks and Millets and a string of branded fashion chains Scotts, Bank and Tessuti, will continue to report into JD's executive chairman Peter Cowgill, as they have been doing for about 18 months.

In an unusual move, Cowgill said the group would not be looking for a replacement for Bown but intended to train people within the business to potentially take on the role in future. "When we have brought in outside people in the past it's a bit like a liver transplant, sometimes it takes and sometimes it doesn't, so we want to enhance people we've got and bring them through. Barry has been gradually taking a lighter load over a period of time so this is no big deal."

Some questioned the quirky arrangement, which leaves Cowgill in sole charge. Retail analyst Nick Bubb suggested Cowgill, whose core skills he thinks lie in buying new businesses, would need more assistance with the everyday running of the group. "It's a pretty big operation and while the core business is in good shape there are lots of new divisions which I would have thought need knocking together. I definitely feel they need a chief executive."

Cowgill said the unusual management structure had the backing of JD's main shareholder Pentland Group, which owns 57% of the shares.

JD's shares are very tightly held with Newcastle United boss Mike Ashley's Sports Direct owning about 12% and Aberforth Partners 10%.