LORD Goold, chairman of the Royal Scottish Orchestra, yesterday

announced his intention to resign his post at the earliest opportunity.

Informing directors at a board meeting which preceded the annual

meeting, Lord Goold said he had reached the decision because of pressure

of work in his own business, and also because of the increasing demands

of time made by the chairmanship.

The date of his departure will depend on whether the orchestra, which

has been in a long-running dispute with its senior management, decides

on any action towards self-government.

If the players have reached no decision by December 31, Lord Goold

will then ask the RSO board to appoint a successor.

He has been chairman since February last year. He has found himself

occupying increasingly the front line in the public dispute between the

players and the senior management of the orchestra.

Lord Goold's statement follows the announcement last month of the

resignation, in a year, of the orchestra's controversial chief

executive, Christopher Bishop, and the release, two weeks ago, of a

lengthy and critical Scottish Arts Council report that called for a

restructuring of the RSO board and reorganisation of management.

He mentioned this SAC report in his statement to the board.

''Regarding the recent review, considerable time will be involved which

I simply do not have available.''

He also said: ''I intimated to my fellow office bearers some time ago

my intention to stand down at this agm. However, about the same time,

the players intimated that they wished to consider the possibility of

going down the self-governing route. If that is the case, then obviously

they will form their own board and select their own chairman.

''Therefore, rather than appoint a successor who might hold office for

only two or three months, I'm prepared to continue in office until the

players have reached a decision on the direction in which they wish to

go, and to the point where any changeover could take place, provided

there is no undue delay.''

Speaking last night, Lord Goold said that he felt it was

''unfortunate'' that during his chairmanship he had found himself in

such a high-profile and time-demanding role.

''It is a non-executive chairmanship,'' he said. ''But it could be

full time if you let it.''

He admitted that the pressure of public and critical exposure during

his chairmanship had affected him. ''There have been times when I've

said: 'What the hell am I doing this for? I don't need this'. If you get

that flak in your own company, at least you're being paid for it. But to

take the personal attacks that you get when you're spending an awful lot

of time doing something because you felt it was worth doing does make

you regret it.''

It had got to the stage, said Lord Goold, where it affected his whole

life. ''When people come up to you and say: 'What are you doing to our

orchestra?' you begin to get almost scared to go to concerts.''

He added: ''Mind you, if I was leaving on that basis, I'd have left a

year ago.''

He thought it was going to be difficult to get non-executive people to

undertake such roles -- ''Businessmen prepared to give all that time and

take all the flak, and not get paid a bean for it.''

Representatives of the RSO players' committee were last night

performing at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, and could not be contacted.

However, a source within the orchestra suggested that the players would

be ''delighted'' at the news of Lord Goold's resignation.