An open letter to the MFC

[afterburner]

Let me prefix this letter by stating the following; I have followed the MFC for my entire life, and I have been a fully paid member since 1988. i have been to all manner of games, from 31 goal beltings, to 100 point victories. From Grand Final losses to a preseason game in Bendigo when the lights didn't go the distance.

I have supported this club through thick and thin, I have given my own money and until yesterday I was proud to say that I was a foundation hero.

Today I am gutted and appalled at the conduct of the club. I am disgusted at the conduct of the board in making Dean Bailey the scapegoat for the failings of the football department. This single decision will set the club back another three years.

We have all heard the rumours surrounding Schwab and Connelly. I have heard directly from players that the issue lay with the communication and mixed messages from Connelly and how this has undermined the message from Bailey. If the claims made in today's Age are true (and I believe them to be based of what I have seen and heard), it is Sschwab and Connelly that have destroyed the fabric of this once great club.

The internal review singled out Schwab as the issue, and past players and the current leadership group have singled out CC's style as creating issues with Bailey's leadership. If true, Connelly should have been out the door yesterday. The bigger issue at hand, however is the board. They have been told all of this and have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and sack the coach.

We should all be better than this. The greatest clubs (not just recently but throughout the generations) have had stability through the club, from the board right the way down to the playing list. And this reflects with on-field performance. MFC has a long way to go and the events of the last 48 hours have set us further back.

I implore the MFC to look at the facts and evidence at hand. I congratulate the board for their financial results these last three years but this is all for naught unless we can lift our 13th Premiership Cup.

I wish Dean Bailey every success in the future and applaud him for leaving with his head held high. As for the administration of the MFC, you have my attention, show me why I should continue to have faith in you.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Well said.

I was going to start a thread asking if anyone has or will contact the club, seems your ahead of me.

Are you sending this to them as well?

 

[Northworth]

clearly an opposition fan here
but great letter... very provoking. Hope you sent it to the club

 

[Syrus]

Great letter afterburner.
I too would like to know why schwabb and connelly are still there, especially after Bailey was asked the question in the media conference whether or not he had the support of the board and he said (and he's a smart man) yes he had the support of the players and coaching staff made no mention of any other section of the club.

 

[Ando727]

It's madness to endorse Connolly and Schwab at a time of great upheaval. They probably think it's a way of offsetting the instability of sacking the coach but it's having the reverse effect on me. They should be putting people on notice, not slapping them on the back and extending their tenures.

 

[Spirit of 39]

Afterburner,

I admire your passion for the MFC, and you are obviously hurting like the rest of us.

Unlike yourself, I have only heard murmurs about goings-ons behind the scenes, and have very little idea as to what has actually been going on with Schwab, Connolly and Bailey. Are you in a position to perhaps outline some of the details of the rift??? What can we determine as fact????

 

[Tulip]

Great letter. I, personally, depite having defended the club hugely the last few days, am now getting worried about the direction in which Jim and the board are taking us.

Schwab? You've gotta be kidding me.

 

[00Stinger]

Swabb and Connolly are trouble. They seem to be the trouble.

However if they are to go, who do we think should replace them?

 

[afterburner]

I have only heard murmurs about goings-ons behind the scenes, and have very little idea as to what has actually been going on with Schwab, Connolly and Bailey. Are you in a position to perhaps outline some of the details of the rift??? What can we determine as fact????

I know that Schwab didn't achieve all the targets he'd been set by the board to trigger an auto renewal of his contract. These weren't financial goals but I'm not sure what they were. I don't doubt his passion but the word I've heard is he suffers a little bit from 'Grant Thomas Syndrome' in that he wants to control every aspect of the football club. The players do not support this intrusion onto their side of the club as this had undermined Bailey's message.

The bigger issue is Connelly. It's been confirmed to me that his role was in direct conflict with Bailey. His messages to the players on game day (as they came off the ground during interchanges) and during training went against the plan Dean was trying to implement. The players are very much at odds with Connelly and it wouldn't surprise me at all that he is replaced at the end of the year and it's spun by the club as a new coach wanting his own person.

Schwab is a very good business administrator however he and Connelly (as the respective heads of the two departments; footy and admin) have continuously clashed over who has authority. Connelly believes the footy dept is above all else however Schwab still sees himself as Connelly's superior as was the case at Freo.

I was told that Dean was told his contract would be renewed after the club agreed to his condition that Connelly was gone at the end of the year. This is why he commented that he was taken by surprise when he got the call from Stynes.

Make of it what you will.

 

[roostersgal4eva]

I know that Schwab didn't achieve all the targets he'd been set by the board to trigger an auto renewal of his contract. These weren't financial goals but I'm not sure what they were. I don't doubt his passion but the word I've heard is he suffers a little bit from 'Grant Thomas Syndrome' in that he wants to control every aspect of the football club. The players do not support this intrusion onto their side of the club as this had undermined Bailey's message.

The bigger issue is Connelly. It's been confirmed to me that his role was in direct conflict with Bailey. His messages to the players on game day (as they came off the ground during interchanges) and during training went against the plan Dean was trying to implement. The players are very much at odds with Connelly and it wouldn't surprise me at all that he is replaced at the end of the year and it's spun by the club as a new coach wanting his own person.

Make of it what you will.

this is why I think schwab will stay and Connelly go - but I would put a craker up his you know what and be made told not to stick his nose in the coaches business. A experianced coach or a coach with cajones will do that.

Needs to do his job and not play coach

 

[Spirit of 39]

I know that Schwab didn't achieve all the targets he'd been set by the board to trigger an auto renewal of his contract. These weren't financial goals but I'm not sure what they were. I don't doubt his passion but the word I've heard is he suffers a little bit from 'Grant Thomas Syndrome' in that he wants to control every aspect of the football club. The players do not support this intrusion onto their side of the club as this had undermined Bailey's message.

The bigger issue is Connelly. It's been confirmed to me that his role was in direct conflict with Bailey. His messages to the players on game day (as they came off the ground during interchanges) and during training went against the plan Dean was trying to implement. The players are very much at odds with Connelly and it wouldn't surprise me at all that he is replaced at the end of the year and it's spun by the club as a new coach wanting his own person.

Schwab is a very good business administrator however he and Connelly (as the respective heads of the two departments; footy and admin) have continuously clashed over who has authority. Connelly believes the footy dept is above all else however Schwab still sees himself as Connelly's superior as was the case at Freo.

I was told that Dean was told his contract would be renewed after the club agreed to his condition that Connelly was gone at the end of the year. This is why he commented that he was taken by surprise when he got the call from Stynes.

Make of it what you will.

Thanks for sharing, mate.

So in short, you'd recommend telling Schwab to stay in his office away from the playing group and showing Cuddles Connolly the door? And am I to assume that Schwab signing a contract extension is probably going to mean that Scully is on the way to GWS?

 

[roostersgal4eva]

Thanks for sharing, mate.

So in short, you'd recommend telling Schwab to stay in his office away from the playing group and showing Cuddles Connolly the door? And am I to assume that Schwab signing a contract extension is probably going to mean that Scully is on the way to GWS?

might even be written in his contract...set defind rules if you will

 

[afterburner]

So in short, you'd recommend telling Schwab to stay in his office away from the playing group and showing Cuddles Connolly the door?

I think Connelly will be shown the door at a later time, a time when the heat will not be on the club.

As far a Schwab goes, he is a very good administrator and has (as far as I am aware) met the financial goals the club set him, so the question has to be asked, who do you replace him with?

The club has tried the shift him away from the football department, there is a reason his office is in the MCG and not AAMI Park, however he was gone as of last Friday as his contract was not set to be renewed. It is true that his contract was due for renewal on 31 July, however he had not met all the clauses to trigger an auto renewal, so I am told the club had up to 45 days to make it's decision. In the panic of yesterday, it was thought that renewing this contract would kill this issue, however the fact remains that on Friday the board agreed not to renew his contract. Amazingly, in 12 months time he will most likely be the only one of the three (Bailey, Connelly and Schwab) to survive.

I don't know much of the situation between he and Scully. I was led to believe at the start of the year that Scully waiting was more to do with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement than an offer from GWS, and that he would re-sign in due course but now I'm not so sure.

For the purposes of full disclosure though, I think if the club is forced to pay $900K to $1M a year to keep him, that money is better spent retaining Watts, Trengove, Gys, Sylvia, Jamar and Frawley.

 

[Ando727]

I think Connelly will be shown the door at a later time, a time when the heat will not be on the club.

Can only hope so. I really haven't heard anything positive about him in the last 10 years.

 

[rhaz]

Has anyone else noticed throughout this whole weekend + today, there has been very little mention about what the supporters are going through? Its hell. It ruined my saturday afternoon and i cant talk to anyone about footy at the moment because it's just embarrassing. Where is the apology to us for the crap they put up on saturday?

 

[Gazza_11]

Throw in a note about how if Scully will stay if the admin is changed, we'd very much like that to happen.