Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham - Statement from Barham addressing Merrett etc - 12/9

[Lore]

Spoiler: Timeline of events

• 15/8: President, Paul Brasher resigns, replaced by Dave Barham who foreshadows external review
  • Votes for Brasher: Peter Allen, Simon Madden, Sean Wellman
    Sean Wellman

    Age

    51

    Ht

    193cm

    Wt

    90kg

    Pos.

    Def

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    14.1

    4star

    K

    9.7

    4star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    4.5

    4star

    T

    1.0

    3star

    No current season stats available

    D

    8.0

    2star

    K

    4.4

    2star

    HB

    3.6

    3star

    M

    2.6

    3star

    T

    0.8

    3star

  • Votes for Barham: Andrew Muir, Dorothy Hisgrove, Melissa Green, Kate O’Sullivan, Kevin Sheedy
• 21/8: Senior Coach, Ben Rutten
  Ben Rutten

  Age

  42

  Ht

  190cm

  Wt

  98kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  13.4

  3star

  K

  6.3

  2star

  HB

  7.0

  4star

  M

  5.3

  5star

  T

  1.3

  3star

  No current season stats available

  D

  10.6

  3star

  K

  6.2

  3star

  HB

  4.4

  4star

  M

  3.6

  4star

  T

  1.0

  3star

  sacked
• 24/8: CEO, Xavier Campbell resigns
• 24/8: Directors to resign
  • Paul Brasher, immediately
  • Simon Madden, immediately
  • Sean Wellman, after new football director is appointed
  • Peter Allen, after AGM & finance portfolio handover in December
• 26/8: Details of coaching selection committee appointment
  • Sub-committee of 6: Josh Mahoney
    Josh Mahoney

    Age

    48

    Ht

    180cm

    Wt

    83kg

    Pos.

    Fwd

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    11.3

    3star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    3.5

    4star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.9

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    9.2

    3star

    K

    5.4

    2star

    HB

    3.8

    3star

    M

    2.2

    3star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.4

    3star

    (Chair, GM-Footy), Robert Walls, Jordan Lewis
    Jordan Lewis

    Age

    39

    Ht

    186cm

    Wt

    86kg

    Pos.

    D/M

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    23.5

    5star

    K

    12.1

    4star

    HB

    11.5

    5star

    M

    5.5

    5star

    T

    2.7

    4star

    MG

    310.5

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    15.0

    4star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    8.2

    5star

    M

    4.8

    5star

    T

    2.8

    5star

    , Simone McKinnis OAM, Andrew Thorburn and Dorothy Hisgrove (board member).
• 26/8: Details of external review process
  • Ernst & Young to coordinate with support from Andrew Thorburn, working closely with Nick Ryan (Acting CEO) & Dorothy Hisgrove (board member)
  • Focusing on four areas: (1) Board effectiveness & composition, (2) a review of leadership, operations and culture including the footy department, (3) the senior coach appointment and (4) the new CEO appointment.
• 26/9: Andrew Welsh appointed to the board of directors, replacing Simon Madden
• 29/9: Brad Scott appointed as Senior Coach
• 30/9: Kevin Sheedy claims decision to appoint Brad Scott was 6-1 against him
• 3/10: Andrew Thorburn appointed as CEO - alternative link
• 3/10: “External review to be handed to the board next week”: Andrew Thorburn, Crichton Medal Address
• 4/10: Andrew Thorburn resigns as CEO
• 11/10: External review preliminary findings
• 24/10: External review preliminary findings II
• 2/11: Dan McPherson appointed as General Manager of Performance & Cam Roberts as Head of Development
• 11/11: Dean Rioli appointed to the board of directors, replacing Paul Brasher
• 14/11: Tim Roberts & David Wills appointed to the board of directors, replacing Sean Wellman and Paul Allen respectively
• 28/11: Dorothy Hisgrove announced as first female vice-president (at the Essendon Women's Best and Fairest night)
• 1/12: Craig Vozzo appointed as CEO
• 13/12: Board director election results: Andrew Welsh and Andrew Muir elected
• 15/5: The club's First Nations Advisory Council established, to be led by Dean Rioli (chair, Indigenous board member), and including: Leanne Brooke (EFC EGM – Community & The Long Walk. Essendon FC), Dorothy Hisgrove (EFC VP and National Manager Partner KPMG), Kane Ellis (CEO of Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service), John Evans (Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement at Swinburne) and Che Cockatoo-Collins (EM, Indigenous Affairs NBN, EFC Past Player)
• 16/5: Board of Directors declare support for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, after consultation with the new First Nations Advisory Council
• 28/8: EGM - Football, Josh Mahoney has accepted a role as GM Football Operations at the AFL
• 10/10: GM - Performance Daniel McPherson, and Head of AFLW/AFL Operations Manager Aysha Ward have been elevated to the club executive as joint leaders of the club's football department, as GM-AFL and GM-AFLW respectively

 

[Lore]

We pointed and laughed at them tho

Instinct more than premeditated

 

[TheDinosaur]

Torn everything down?

Sheedy is still there.
Dodoro is still there.
Campbell is still there.

Etc etc.

Let’s not kid ourselves that beyond Ben Rutten’s morale, we’ve torn anything down yet.

Dunno about you but this has torn my work productivity down to near saga lows…


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[jmoo wan]

As much as I do not like you at all,

maybe you should just get to know me.

 

[Lore]

Torn everything down?

Sheedy is still there.
Dodoro is still there.
Campbell is still there.

Etc etc.

Let’s not kid ourselves that beyond Ben Rutten’s morale, we’ve torn anything down yet.

And the facade of decency

 

[DonsRule]

who's the richest here?

Doss. All that time as a super mod on here.




Jokes aside until Clarko makes his decision public I do think its anyones guess the shamble of a club we are atm is a worry.


I was happy to keep Rutten maybe with ore resources but how things have been handled by us I don't think thats really possible.

 

[Lore]

I'm not a huge Slobbo fan, but that's a pretty unnecessary cheap shot by Wilson to call him a Hird mouthpiece, and to say Robbo suggesting Clarkson should go to Norf to mean he wants Hird at the Bombers.

She really has it in for us, Hird specifically. She is almost unlistenable.

She’s team Rutten and she seems to be doing a mumma bear routine

 

[Mootsy]

seems a great time to rewatch the 01' comeback game.

 

[yodellinhank]

I'm not a huge Slobbo fan, but that's a pretty unnecessary cheap shot by Wilson to call him a Hird mouthpiece, and to say Robbo suggesting Clarkson should go to Norf to mean he wants Hird at the Bombers.

She really has it in for us, Hird specifically. She is almost unlistenable.

It'd kill her if Hird gets back up off the mat.

 

[84859300]

maybe you should just get to know me.

Do you kiss on the first date?

 

[tandino]

I'm not a huge Slobbo fan, but that's a pretty unnecessary cheap shot by Wilson to call him a Hird mouthpiece, and to say Robbo suggesting Clarkson should go to Norf to mean he wants Hird at the Bombers.

She really has it in for us, Hird specifically. She is almost unlistenable.

Both things could be right.

 

[citizen-erased]

It'd kill her if Hird gets back up off the mat.

it would kill a few of us.

 

[boncer34]

Torn everything down?

Sheedy is still there.
Dodoro is still there.
Campbell is still there.

Etc etc.

Let’s not kid ourselves that beyond Ben Rutten’s morale, we’ve torn anything down yet.

It's so cute to see the fire reignited in the belly.

 

[Lore]

For all the talk of external reviews, let me just point to this:

Dr. Ziggy Switkowski report

Read the key findings and recommendations from Dr. Ziggy Switskowski's internal report.

www.essendonfc.com.au

There are several areas that don’t seem to have improved at all. Can’t speak to hierarchy, lines of reporting and the medical department as that’s all behind closed doors for the most part, but the role and function of a CEO, the structure of the football department, and the critique of recruitment processes, are not areas that have necessarily improved.

Point being that external reviews are useful in uncovering problems, and “sunlight is the best disinfectant”. But they cannot enforce the recommendations they make, it takes a strongly principled board of directors to actually do that.



On the plus side, the people brasher brought onto the board in Sheedy, Green and Hisgrove have all immediately sided against him, which indicates that loyalty isn’t a defining feature of their directorships. Let’s hope that means they’re acting on good principles instead…

 

[andleanback]

More talk about Mahoney falling out with Dodoro.

Reflects well on Mahoney if nothing else.

I’d love to know what the difference in opinions are, considering AD doesn’t have much to do with the day to day stuff/performance of the team.

 

[yodellinhank]

Not all torn down then?

You got no reason.

 

[andleanback]

She’s team Rutten and she seems to be doing a mumma bear routine

The presumption that Robbie and sheedy want hird is laughable
She still hates hirdy so much

 

[citizen-erased]

For anyone needing it
Herb's new drop is perfection

we can shut up shop now

 

[carnthedons]

Do you kiss on the first date?

Does your dad own a brewery?

 

[BomberManU]

Surely there's nothing in this Hird talk. Please tell me there's nothing.

 

[BrunoV]

I'm not a huge Slobbo fan, but that's a pretty unnecessary cheap shot by Wilson to call him a Hird mouthpiece, and to say Robbo suggesting Clarkson should go to Norf to mean he wants Hird at the Bombers.

She really has it in for us, Hird specifically. She is almost unlistenable.

It's the exact impression I get, that Robbo is rooting for Hird.

 

[Zach Package]

Lets not pretend like Essendon is the only club with these issues. Fortunately for other clubs, winning games of football covers over many cracks.

Here here. We were exactly this dysfunctional last year but we won a few games so it papered over the crap as you mentioned.

I’m personally glad this is all coming to a head in a major public way because this had the potential to essentially fester indefinitely with no real progress being made.

Agree with Lyon’s sentiment that Madden, Wellman and Allen need to go and obviously I think Brasher should go as well. Madden and Brasher have never impressed me when hearing them speak and I guess I thought Wellman to be at least a safe set of hands but perhaps that was coloured by him being ‘Mr. Reliable’ on the field.

The quicker we completely excise the cancer the better, we’ve seen how quickly Collingwood rejuvenated themselves after cutting out that big, pus filled goitre Eddie McGuire.

 

[andleanback]

Here here. We were exactly this dysfunctional last year but we won a few games so it papered over the crap as you mentioned.

I’m personally glad this is all coming to a head in a major public way because this had the potential to essentially fester indefinitely with no real progress being made.

Agree with Lyon’s sentiment that Madden, Wellman and Allen need to go and obviously I think Brasher should go as well. Madden and Brasher have never impressed me when hearing them speak and I guess I thought Wellman to be at least a safe set of hands but perhaps that was coloured by him being ‘Mr. Reliable’ on the field.

The quicker we completely excise the cancer the better, we’ve seen how quickly Collingwood rejuvenated themselves after cutting out that big, pus filled goitre Eddie McGuire.

Wellman looks like the classic yes man who does the bidding for campbell/brasher on the board, a terrible person to be in the role of footy director.

 

[carnthedons]

Surely there's nothing in this Hird talk. Please tell me there's nothing.

Surely not. The bloke tried to kill himself from all the shit last time, if I’m anyone around him I’m telling him to stay the **** away, irrespective of the fact I think he has some potential as a coach, or at least once had.

 

[Mootsy]

Surely there's nothing in this Hird talk. Please tell me there's nothing.

There's nothing

 

[The Prosecutor]

The way Wellman conducted himself while running for the board says it all really.

Made no effort to engage with members or put anything forward. Just "I'm a past player, **** you".

Of course, the membership base lapped it up.