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

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Falcon27 said:
Assisting who? Hope it's not assisting internal management do it. E&Y should be running and controlling the bloody review.
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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?
 

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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?
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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?
 
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 shit, got demoted because of it, and we hired him to do the job he was shit 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.
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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.
 

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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.
 
JayJ20 said:
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.
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Oh definitely we should have sacked Rutten straight away on the Monday when Brasher was sacked. This blew up Monday morning with Clarkson rumour so Clarkson would’ve been aware of Rutten situation then. Then gets a call Tues and Rutten still there. It had to have been discussed at that point. Wed and Thurs drag on
and we’re still waiting. Why when the coach still hasn’t been sacked?
 

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Doss said:
If Madden is indeed departing voluntarily at this point, I don't think this augurs remotely well for the direction the head coach selection is going in.

I get a horrible feeling he's sensing where the wind is blowing and is leaving pre-emptively.

I've said previously in the last few days that the entire board, including Madden, should go, but the timing of this seems ominous to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not liking what I'm hearing.
 
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...
He was playing Essendon, maybe hoping for some extra $$$ from north, would be my guess

Or he hates Essendon so much saw a nice opportunity to let the place implode
 
Doss said:
If Madden is indeed departing voluntarily at this point, I don't think this augurs remotely well for the direction the head coach selection is going in.

I get a horrible feeling he's sensing where the wind is blowing and is leaving pre-emptively.

I've said previously in the last few days that the entire board, including Madden, should go, but the timing of this seems ominous to me.
Click to expand...
He backed the losing horse, if you aren’t going to fall into line and get behind the new chairman, get out.
 
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...

By what metric was he shit at Richmond?

He arrives in 2013 and leaves in 2017, aligning with their ridiculous rise from dogshit to unbeatable with the majority of that premiership team on and off field arriving within that time period.
 
baz_machine said:
He was playing Essendon, maybe hoping for some extra $$$ from north, would be my guess

Or he hates Essendon so much saw a nice opportunity to let the place implode
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How was he playing them?

He was 9/10th down with a decision and we came along to ask the question. He considered for 5 minutes and went where his mail was. I'd even suspect that he wouldn't have increased his price at all and confirmed he was happy to go with North.

Barham had to ask the question and would have been savaged if he didn't - damned if he did or didn't. It took for a coup to even have anyone from the club raise it with Clarko. What were the rest of the board and footy department doing not asking if they knew the fate of Truck?
 
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