Tom Vernon will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer of the Right to Dream (RtD) Group, the former Manchester United scout has announced.

Tuesday's announcement ends 25-years of running Ghana's leading football Academy, an organization he founded.

Vernon will now serve as Executive vice chairman to the board of RtD group and San Diego FC. He will still retain oversight responsibility over the Groups operations in Egypt, San Diego and FC Nordsjaelland.

''As Chairman, however after a quarter century of pushing Right to Dream inch by inch it’s time to achieve a better family balance and spend my reduced time supporting our amazing leadership one step back from the front line, where I can focus on deepening and strengthening our culture and the global connectivity within our community. With my new found time and flexibility I will prioritize Family and Ghana my 1st loves','' Vernon said in a post on LinkedIN.

Tom Vernon and recruits in the early days of the Academy

In 1999, Tom Vernon started what has now grown into a world class institution, producing elite talents for the world's most popular sport.

The Group has now expanded from a single academy, to a community with 4 academies and professional clubs in Denmark Egypt and America.

Right to Dream currently employs nearly 1000 highly skilled individuals of different learnings and backgrounds across the world.

In December 2015, Right to Dream officially acquired 99% of FC Nordsjaelland – in a move that announced the Group's ambition to the world.

Since then, Mohammed Kudus, Kamal Deen Sulemana, Ernest Nuamah and many others have made the transition from the academy in Ghana to the Danish club before moving to greater things.

On what he thinks of the club's future under the current leadership, Tom Vernon said: ''Our new CEO is Dan Dickinson and there is no one better suited to further knit together our community and grow it. We have been partners for over a decade and friends for much longer. I’m privileged to now work with him even closer in our new roles,'' he said.