Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham

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thebigboy said:
All well and good, however timing is an issue. You can’t run a 4-6 week external review & then a 4 week coaching search. Takes us past trade week and into late October before appointing anyone. Would be horrific for 2023 planning & attractive a strong support staff and having them in place by preseason in November. Hence why ideally it should have been run mid-year rather than Brasher taking the easy option.

They all did stick with stability and add key people around them. They also had key pillars in place off field & IRRC less factional issues. That doesn’t mean that is the only option. Carlton & Collingwood from last year are far closer to where things are here. Off-field dramas leading to instability that needs to be dealt with to clear air for the playing group to succeed.

Do we really want to be St.Kilda going through a second internal review in a row?
Click to expand...
See that’s the thing. We didn’t need to search for another coach. That’s why this whole fiasco is the dumbest and most unnecessary thing the club has done since the saga.

Do the external review, put the recommendations in place. Give Rutten support from a list management perspective. If we’re still bad next year, then we have plenty of time to search for a new coach and nobody sees the club as a complete rabble. This is why good management and leadership is one that doesn’t rush when making decisions.

None of this was necessary.
 
fishardansin said:
Have you seen:
Yes Minister,
The thick of it,
The games,
Frontline,
The Wire
... etc etc.

No review is ever taken without frames of reference drafted and personal appointed that will lead to a predictable outcome. Because we don't live in a real open source democracy. We live in a world still clouded by monied interests.
Click to expand...

or as they say, you never ask a question you don't already know the answer to...
 

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fishardansin said:
Have you seen:
Yes Minister,
The thick of it,
The games,
Frontline,
The Wire
... etc etc.

No review is ever taken without frames of reference drafted and personal appointed that will lead to a predictable outcome. Because we don't live in a real open source democracy. We live in a world still clouded by monied interests.
Click to expand...
Of course. But you’re not really hiding those interests if you sack someone before the review

Mostly, football reviews are just virtue signalling to appease members and media.

Let’s hope ours is more virtuous than that
 
BomberManU said:
But clearly Rutten wasn't going to be there next year, it's only the Clarkson circus that has caused the issues. Would it be any more palatable sacking Rutten part way through next season, if things didn't improve? He'd lost a number of players, and the important ones as far as holding the team together, according to FC. (For the record, I think he was treated terribly by the club - should have been told Monday and if he wanted to coach the last game, that would be up to him with the support of the club)
Click to expand...
Clearly it’s not the players that re-committed to him and they form the nucleus of the next possible premiership. I don’t care about the players who’ve been in the system of mediocrity for so long. Rutten could have started phasing them out. There must be a time when the tail stops wagging the dog. They’re either in or out.

Also, it’s far better to do it next year than this year because prospective coaches and trade targets aren’t going to be put off by the state of the club. The club is entering a trade period in total shambles which is the last thing this club needs to bounce back from a disappointing year.
 
Falcon27 said:
Assisting who? Hope it's not assisting internal management do it. E&Y should be running and controlling the bloody review.
Click to expand...
Internal management sets the terms of reference (our point person is Dorothy Hisgrove) and pays them for their work so they're assisting the club in that sense. They do need to have independence over the process though otherwise it's pointless.
 
the Switkowski report of 2013 makes interesting reading, in the context of our current scenario

www.essendonfc.com.au

Dr. Ziggy Switkowski report

Read the key findings and recommendations from Dr. Ziggy Switskowski's internal report.
www.essendonfc.com.au www.essendonfc.com.au

i found this part very interesting:

3. Failures in Structure and Accountability

As a general observation, the commercial arm of the EFC is run professionally, with well-developed processes and good discipline. Budget management, project control, HR processes, record keeping, membership and community relations etc are consistent with good business practices except in that they seem not to extend to the football department. Who was accountable for what is difficult to ascertain.

In the period under review, a number of management processes broke down, failed or were short- circuited.
Problems occurred in:
• Selection and Recruitment processes
• Induction processes
• Management of contractors
• Hierarchy and decision making in the Football Department
• Administration

In particular, there was a lack of clarity about who was in charge of the Football Department. There were two separate roles, with fuzzy lines of responsibility. The responsibilities of two key staff overlapped, and the new fitness team was able to largely ignore their attempts at direct management. Added to this is a senior coach in his first coaching role.
 
What I still don’t quite get after hearing Clarkson’s reasons behind his decision is what Clarkson didn’t just put an end to the chase on the Tuesday when Barham first called? What was there to consider? Especially when he already said a 3-4 day diligence was not enough. Yes I know he was off to Adelaide on Wed and Thurs but why not just end it Tuesdayon that first call?
 
TheGreatBarryB said:
What I still don’t quite get after hearing Clarkson’s reasons behind his decision is what Clarkson didn’t just put an end to the chase on the Tuesday when Barham first called? What was there to consider? Especially when he already said a 3-4 day diligence was not enough. Yes I know he was off to Adelaide on Wed and Thurs but why not just end it Tuesdayon that first call?
Click to expand...

Weren't his comments something along the lines of 'I owed it to people I know there to listen to their pitch'. So presumably he's got some kind of connection to someone(s) at the club, he'd know our S&C guy given he was at Hawthorn at the very least.

Might have been he legitimately went away and had a think about whether coaching EFC was worth reconsidering his NM position, even if it was never really a live option.
 
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It’s so interesting to reflect back on the last 10 years with the lense of the last week.

Remember Mark Neeld? We all thought he was a fool, was he just a rigid, process driven individual that didn’t gel with ‘fast and loose’ and the axis powers of idiocy.

Neil Craig? Dan Richardson? Rob Kerr? How many of these people have we moved on or have departed the club because they didn’t align with what our concept of what a footy club looks like and how much of it was actually the right thing to do?

And how many have we lost because smart people saw the writing on the wall?
 

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owen87 said:
Weren't his comments something along the lines of 'I owed it to people I know there to listen to their pitch'. So presumably he's got some kind of connection to someone(s) at the club, he'd know our S&C guy given he was at Hawthorn at the very least.

Might have been he legitimately went away and had a think about whether coaching EFC was worth reconsidered his NM position, even if it was never really a live option.
Click to expand...
He mentioned Tim Watson and had some connection with Barham …seems rather tenuous especially if he was so far down the track with North. Or i won’t even contemplate it whilst you already have a coach in place which was the case as at time of that first call.
 
I posted the link to the don the stat podcast in the game preview thread last week, but they've now put out a transcript which is a bit easier to skim through for those who haven't heard it.

It's from the pod that Kyptastic is involved in, but he's not personally in this particular episode. The guy that is, Jonathon Walsh, worked for Essendon for 15 years as an analyst, so has a bit of insight.

Essendon Board Spill Monologue | Don The Stat

donthestat.podbean.com donthestat.podbean.com

Issues go back to the salary cap in 2000. It got so bad that saving pennies meant we didn't recruit interstate rookies because of the cost – i.e. Indigenous kids.
Our problems didn’t start and finish under the leadership of Paul Brasher and Xavier Campbell. They started 20 years ago when a mis-managed salary cap resulted in us losing good quality footballers when we were at the peak of our powers, good quality Essendon people. We went from the 2000 Premiers, to pushing the likes of Bewick out the door into retirement, we lost Long and Wallis and then had a firesale to get rid of Hardwick, Blumfield, Heffernan, Caracella. All in the space of two years.

Under the leadership of the time, the recruiting team was told not to recruit rookies from interstate due to the extra cost, the moving allowances that had to be paid to them. Forego the next Dean Rioli because it’s going to cost us a few more bucks. From 2000 Premiers to a 2002 firesale and putting profits ahead of football. I’m not sure we’ve ever recovered from that, we moved from one saga to another to another.
Click to expand...

The Essendon of old didn't tolerate egos and self-interest:
All the great people of Essendon, be it players, coaches or volunteers all had something in common. It was about the club, it was about looking out for one another, it was about playing a role in something that was much bigger and much more important than any individual.

That didn’t mean that people didn’t show care and respect for individuals, they absolutely did and that came from the top. But inside the four walls, regardless of your role, it wasn’t about you. Ego’s weren’t tolerated. It was about the history of Essendon, Reynolds & Coleman, Norm McDonald, Ken Fraser. The names on the grandstand and the thousands and thousands of people that fill them.
Click to expand...
  • There's also a rehash of the 150 years celebration dinner, being priced beyond the ability of normal members, and life members didn't even get an invite. What kind of club celebration is it, when only those who can afford to drop $400pp on dinner can attend? Do they care who attends or just the money they could make out of it?
  • Also a point about internal reviews creating division, and the findings were handed down around the same time our form dived off a cliff again in Round 20. 10 man boards also create division. Need to get the self-aggrandising egotistical crap that factions breed out of the culture of the club, and put the club first. Carlton and Collingwood seem to have overcome similar issues, so maybe Barham can do that too (he has more faith in Barham than I do, perhaps because this pod was recorded on Thursday last week?)
The conclusion is really good too:
If this is truly our line in the sand, then do it properly. Do it thoroughly, be considered and do it on the back of people who value and respect the history and the 85,000 members of Essendon. They don’t have to be people that have come from Essendon, but they do have to be people that understand it.

If I can leave people with one last thought, it’s this. Plenty of people right now, Essendon fans and non-Essendon fans will be saying the club is stuffed. That Essendon is a disgrace that, Essendon is a crap club. Football clubs like Essendon are a sum of their parts, a sum of all of their people, all of its history. Essendon isn’t stuffed, the club isn’t a disgrace, Essendon Football Club is a great club. Because Essendon isn’t the people that have let our club down, that have taken our history and our supporters for granted. It might feel like all of those things right now, but people come and go and long after they have gone, what is left is the club that has stood the test of time.

Essendon is Albert Thurgood becoming the first player to kick 50 goals in a season, it’s fans moving from end to end to see Coleman up close, it’s the strength of Bluey Shelton playing in the 1965 Premiership despite only being able to see out of one eye. Essendon is Michael Long standing up against racism, it’s Kevin Sheedy waving his scarf, it’s James Hird hugging a fan in the crowd. Essendon is 4 VFA and 16 AFL Premierships. A VFLW Premiership. It’s the people you high-five in the crowd after Sammy Draper plucks it from the centre square, runs down the ground and kicks a goal, it's the complete stranger you spot in the middle of the week wearing a piece of Essendon merchandise and you smile and nod to when you walk past them Essendon polo. Essendon is 85,000 proud and passionate members, it's not a sub-set of people that have made some bad decisions. It's bigger, it's better and it's much more important than that, don’t lose sight of that.
Click to expand...
 
Zach Package said:
It’s so interesting to reflect back on the last 10 years with the lense of the last week.

Remember Mark Neeld? We all thought he was a fool, was he just a rigid, process driven individual that didn’t gel with ‘fast and loose’ and the axis powers of idiocy.

Neil Craig? Dan Richardson? Rob Kerr? How many of these people have we moved on or have departed the club because they didn’t align with what our concept of what a footy club looks like and how much of it was actually the right thing to do?

And how many have we lost because smart people saw the writing on the wall?
Click to expand...
In fairness to Richardson, he did the same job at Richmond, was s**t, got demoted because of it, and we hired him to do the job he was s**t at after his demotion.
 
eth-dog said:
In fairness to Richardson, he did the same job at Richmond, was s**t, got demoted because of it, and we hired him to do the job he was s**t at after his demotion.
Click to expand...
He seemed fairly ego driven and was a bit of an arse. I don't have a high opinion of Dodoro (although it's not his recruiting so much as his power-broking, outsized degree of authority and apparent inability to play nice with others that are the issues for me), but I don't like that Richardson took over the Shiel trade after Dodoro walked away either.

It looked like he (Richardson) disregarded due process in order to save face. In a properly run organisation the board gives Dodoro a hard limit on what we're willing to offer or accept (in terms of money and picks to gain or let go of a player) and with that guidance you then let him do the job he's paid to do. Dodoro may be many things, but at least he was prepared to walk away from something that wasn't in the best interests of the club. No shade on Shiel as an individual but the way that all went down was evidence of poor management.

In some ways I wouldn't be disappointed if someone like Dodoro actually ended up on the board of directors. For one thing it would preclude him from actually working at the club on a day-to-day basis, but it would also reverse the weird hierarchy loop that currently seems to be in place. If he's going to have that degree of influence he should have the title and the accountability that goes with it.
 
Lore said:
I posted the link to the don the stat podcast in the game preview thread last week, but they've now put out a transcript which is a bit easier to skim through for those who haven't heard it.

It's from the pod that Kyptastic is involved in, but he's not personally in this particular episode. The guy that is, Jonathon Walsh, worked for Essendon for 15 years as an analyst, so has a bit of insight.

Essendon Board Spill Monologue | Don The Stat

donthestat.podbean.com donthestat.podbean.com

Issues go back to the salary cap in 2000. It got so bad that saving pennies meant we didn't recruit interstate rookies because of the cost – i.e. Indigenous kids.


The Essendon of old didn't tolerate egos and self-interest:

  • There's also a rehash of the 150 years celebration dinner, being priced beyond the ability of normal members, and life members didn't even get an invite. What kind of club celebration is it, when only those who can afford to drop $400pp on dinner can attend? Do they care who attends or just the money they could make out of it?
  • Also a point about internal reviews creating division, and the findings were handed down around the same time our form dived off a cliff again in Round 20. 10 man boards also create division. Need to get the self-aggrandising egotistical crap that factions breed out of the culture of the club, and put the club first. Carlton and Collingwood seem to have overcome similar issues, so maybe Barham can do that too (he has more faith in Barham than I do, perhaps because this pod was recorded on Thursday last week?)
The conclusion is really good too:
Click to expand...
When was this period of not recruiting from interstate or indigenous kids?
 
andleanback said:
When was this period of not recruiting from interstate or indigenous kids?
Click to expand...
I only know what he said in the quote, I guess if you have Twitter you could ask him directly. Looks like it's around the same time as the salary cap issues.
 
TheGreatBarryB said:
What I still don’t quite get after hearing Clarkson’s reasons behind his decision is what Clarkson didn’t just put an end to the chase on the Tuesday when Barham first called? What was there to consider? Especially when he already said a 3-4 day diligence was not enough. Yes I know he was off to Adelaide on Wed and Thurs but why not just end it Tuesdayon that first call?
Click to expand...

Because he's a grade a flog. Simple as that.

It's hidden behind the criticism of us, but it's clear he was in the position to end it at any point and not lead us on. For him to act holier than thou is such a cop-out, and a direct insight to the flog he really is.

However it is a blessing in disguise because it forced our hand to enact change and realise the mediocrity that we were so happy to tread in. We dodged a bullet and it has woken us up as a consequence.
 
TheGreatBarryB said:
What I still don’t quite get after hearing Clarkson’s reasons behind his decision is what Clarkson didn’t just put an end to the chase on the Tuesday when Barham first called? What was there to consider? Especially when he already said a 3-4 day diligence was not enough. Yes I know he was off to Adelaide on Wed and Thurs but why not just end it Tuesdayon that first call?
Click to expand...
On the contrary, why didn’t Essendon sack Rutten if they already concluded that he wasn’t going coach beyond round 23? That way, Clarkson wouldn’t have felt the pressure of having all the attention on him to make a decision given it’s two clubs without coaches that aren’t playing finals. Instead, Clarkson has to make a decision because Rutten is still coaching the side, showing up to training, preparing the side to play Richmond, making the changes etc.

Of course Clarkson will feel pressured to make a decision because this fiasco is taking up the whole media coverage and having an impact on the coach that is currently still in place.

I think he would have seriously considered the Essendon role if he was given more time to do his due diligence. North were more organised so that’s the one you’ll take under pressure.
 
eth-dog said:
In fairness to Richardson, he did the same job at Richmond, was s**t, got demoted because of it, and we hired him to do the job he was s**t at after his demotion.
Click to expand...
Richardson was the right idea, but wrong person
I feel we fixed that with Mahoney tbh. Im encouraged that he's grating with some of the rusted on's. We should be looking for more that. Disrupt what has been the method for the last 20 years.
 
Call Me Cake said:
Because he's a grade a flog. Simple as that.

It's hidden behind the criticism of us, but it's clear he was in the position to end it at any point and not lead us on. For him to act holier than thou is such a cop-out, and a direct insight to the flog he really is.

However it is a blessing in disguise because it forced our hand to enact change and realise the mediocrity that we were so happy to tread in. We dodged a bullet and it has woken us up as a consequence.
Click to expand...
He accepted the North job within about 4 days of us contacting him.
 
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