Roy Disney resigns from Disney board and criticizes Michael Eisner; ally follows suit

<br>LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A key ally joined Roy E. Disney in resigning from the Walt Disney Co. board board Monday, becoming the second vocal opponent of chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner to quit

Monday, December 1st 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A key ally joined Roy E. Disney in resigning from the Walt Disney Co. board board Monday, becoming the second vocal opponent of chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner to quit in two days.

Stanley Gold issued a long rebuke to Eisner and the Walt Disney Co.'s board Monday, seconding complaints made Sunday by Roy Disney and further criticizing the board for being a rubber stamp to senior management.

Gold also repeated Disney's calls for Eisner to resign.

``It is clear to me that this board is unwilling to tackle the difficult issues I believe this company continues to face _ management failures and accountability for those failures, operational deficiencies, imprudent capital allocations, the cannibalization of certain company icons for short-term gain, the enormous loss of creative talent over the last years, the absence of succession planning and the lack of strategic focus,'' Gold wrote.