Former Brisbane coach Michael Voss wants the AFL to take charge and help bankroll the Lions’ search for a new chief executive.

Malcolm Holmes, who along with former chairman Angus Johnson oversaw the review that brought an end to Voss’ coaching tenure last year, left the club on Thursday.

With skyrocketing debt, dwindling interest among locals and a squad decimated by the high number of talented youngsters that left the club last year, the new CEO is a critical appointment for the embattled club.

Voss, speaking on radio station SEN, implored the league to play a major role in the selection of Holmes’ replacement.

“And they should contribute some money to it too,” he said on Friday.

“One of the challenges of being in the outpost is attracting talent. You’re not going to be able to pay minimum and get super people.

“They’ve got to throw some cash at it. Otherwise we’re going to have the Brisbane Lions losing money year on year, year on year – and it can’t happen.”

Carlton CEO Greg Swann, past and present AFLQ bosses Richard Griffiths and Michael Conlan, and former North Melbourne chief Eugene Arocca are among the names being mooted as Holmes’ likely successor.

“I’m not into picking CEOs,” Voss said, before cheekily adding Adrian Anderson to the list.

“He fits the criteria,” Voss said of Anderson, the former AFL general manager of football operations who just finished up as Cycling Australia’s interim CEO.

Speaking on the same program, Anderson said he planned to go back to consulting.

Three-time Lions premiership captain Voss expressed no resentment or bitterness over the fact that Holmes and Johnson, the two men responsible for his sacking, had followed him out the door.

“As far as my role was concerned, we talked openly quite a fair bit,” Voss said of his relationship with Holmes.