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

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Spill.

Wine?

 

[The Donners]

The first four reported coach interviews were on Wednesday 7th of September, then nothing else until the week before the grand final when Yze had a second interview on the Wednesday 21st. Then on the 22nd (National Day of Mourning Public Holiday) Gia had apparently been interviewed. In between we heard of other people being asked to join the process and choosing not to, or not yet. Mostly those were experienced coaches that would skip the first round anyway so their interviews would've presumably happened directly before and after the grand final, if they'd gone ahead.

Mahoney was chairing the coach process and calling everyone inviting them to apply, while I think Hisgrove was involved in the personality profiling stuff (her background is people and culture, and aren't personality profiles all the rage in HR these days?) Presumably the others all had their own bits to research and then further questions to ask during the interviews for each one. Jordan Lewis seemed to be focusing on the Essendon context and goodness of fit for modern footy.


I mean I'll also point out that we're post-covid and you don't have to be in the same country to do business anymore. Plenty of things are either online or in a hybrid format and that doesn't seem to be an issue until the front page needs filling.

How many Australians worked from home during COVID lockdowns? Not difficult to use Teams/Zoom etc. I’ve personally hired (with success) over Teams.

Therefore I couldn’t care less whether she was in the country or not. Could’ve been in Melbourne or Ibiza, matters little.

 

[Bombermania]

This ******* club.



It was barely 24 hours ago that we were wondering how Andrew Thorburn’s appointment as Essendon CEO made it past Dorothy Hisgrove, a club director and over-qualified hall monitor in realms of diversity and inclusion.

Hisgrove, a national managing partner at KPMG, received a special mention from club president David Barham during her appointment to Essendon’s CEO selection panel, with Barham hailing her business leadership and expertise in people and culture.

We’ve already noted how fruitless these skills turned out to be in preventing the furore engulfing the club, and we may have discovered the reason why.

Margin Call has established that Hisgrove was actually out of the country for a significant portion of September when the panel deliberations were taking place on the matter of a replacement CEO.


We know this because Hisgrove’s Facebook profile is adorned with snapshots of slender palms, glasses of vino and a shimmering Iberian Peninsula, all of which were uploaded while the mess of the club’s implosion was trying to be contained out of Melbourne.

Hisgrove appears to have left Australia within days of the Essendon CEO position becoming vacant on August 23, when former boss Xavier Campbell tendered his resignation amid a whirlwind of sackings and departures.

And yes, we can accept that holidays are necessary, booked well in advance, and often timed around the orbiting schedules of other people. What’s curious is that a celebrated and supposedly committed board member saw fit to decamp for sunnier climes in the midst of a disaster that can now be measured with a Geiger counter.

Especially, we might add, when that board member had been thrust forth by the club’s president as an impeccable leadership savant whose input was to be so necessary for the selection of Essendon’s successor CEO.

As Barham told his membership, Hisgrove was put on the panel to provide “the latest testing protocols to ensure the panel has a clear picture of the personality and leadership capabilities of each candidate”. We can conclude this was hardly a raging success, given the fallout from Thorburn’s appointment.

We are not without sympathy here. The task of vetting candidates is not easy, and it is hardly made easier when one is navigating the cobblestone alleyways of the Portuguese capital, or slaking the heat of the Spanish south with large, fragrant glasses of Rioja. While we’re querying levels of commitment, it’s worth noting as well that Hisgrove is hardly a lifetime Essendon supporter.

From what we can gather she’s actually a Collingwood fan from years back, or so we’re led to believe from the incriminating photographs that we’ve discovered online (fair warning to ye all).

Hisgrove may have joined the Essendon board last August but until she took a seat at the table she publicly and proudly identified as a Pies fan, flaunting a black and white scarf on one occasion and even changing her Facebook profile to include the Collingwood logo during their 2018 grand final campaign.

We need not point out that it’s not a capital offence to switch allegiances in the AFL but, on the other hand, it is a very novel way to increase boardroom diversity. Not sure how that will wash with the club faithful, however. Hisgrove did not respond to questions.

Has the media heard of modern communications that make it possible to get in touch from anywhere at anytime and I read somewhere that a club's director used to go on the end of season footy trip, and this year's trip was to Spain.

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

If you can't undertand that people work remotely and can meet or get most jobs done outside of an office then you probably need to reassess where you are at.

 

[Lore]

Has the media heard of modern communications that make it possible to get in touch from anywhere at anytime and I read somewhere that a club's director used to go on the end of season footy trip, and this year's trip was to Spain.

To be fair it's NewsCorp, the average customer retired long before long distance telephone calls became inexpensive.

 

[Dave]

Has the media heard of modern communications that make it possible to get in touch from anywhere at anytime and I read somewhere that a club's director used to go on the end of season footy trip, and this year's trip was to Spain.

No. MOAR OUTRAGE DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[The Donners]

It’s really a moot point but the Hun are running with an article that Essendon are bleeding about the firm that was hired and failed to uncover the Church’s stance on homosexuality and abortions.

I can’t read the article as I don’t subscribe to the Hun but it I can see it mentions “his controversial comments”. Our ex-CEO made no controversial comments to my knowledge. This is probably a good reason I don’t subscribe to the Hun.

 

[Beerfish]

This is what happens when you get external people into the club.

 

[frodos gardener]

To be fair it's NewsCorp, the average customer retired long before long distance telephone calls became inexpensive.

Who’s old enough to remember when phone cards were all the rage? Was wild.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

This is what happens when you get external people into the club.

 

[Lore]

Who’s old enough to remember when phone cards were all the rage? Was wild.

It's interesting listening to the Bonnie T and Maddy P podcast because Bonnie is just old enough to remember things like that, knows who Freddie Mercury is etc. Maddy isn't. The pod last night had them talking about listening to FM radio in the car, while Maddy just plugs her phone in and listens to Spotify. They're only three years apart in age, but there's quite an apparent generation gap that comes through in various examples and most episodes.

 

[Lore]

I think you're spot on in your assessment of someone cough Sheedy cough creating issues now to suit their end goal.

Change can sometimes be messy as we've seen. I'm not convinced Rutten wasn't the right coach but all this other change, despite filled with mistakes along the way, is heading in the right direction IMO. I'm willing the live with the short term blunders if it means long term gain.

The old guard who only want Essendon people everywhere see their chance to gain control again and are probably willing to help create stories everywhere.

Actually I don't think it's Sheedy. Sheedy's contacts are predominantly in football, and therefore are football journos such as Robbo, and probably Matthew Lloyd (who is not a journo, obviously).

Business journos suggests it's one of the others, someone who is primarily in business, who most likely reads The Australian and the Herald Sun, and who doesn't necessarily have footy journos on speed dial.

We don't know that it's actually a board member. It could be a coterie person too. I know Paul Little was quoted in the paper the other day, I'm sure there are others outside the four walls who talk too, on condition of not being quoted.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Actually I don't think it's Sheedy. Sheedy's contacts are predominantly in football, and therefore are football journos such as Robbo, and probably Matthew Lloyd (who is not a journo, obviously).

Business journos suggests it's one of the others, someone who is primarily in business, who most likely reads The Australian and the Herald Sun, and who doesn't necessarily have footy journos on speed dial.

We don't know that it's actually a board member. It could be a coterie person too. I know Paul Little was quoted in the paper the other day, I'm sure there are others outside the four walls who talk too, on condition of not being quoted.

I don't necessaily think Sheedy is the primary driver, but I believe he'd have the support of whoever is and the blessing (and possibly help) from Sheedy.

 

[Pweter]

I can picture conversations between rusted on Essendon people who only want Essendon people basically turning out like this:

 

[Lore]

Andrew Muir is pitching for re-election on linked in, basically identical to the Essendon section of his website mind you.

Couple of notable people being supportive in the comments: Nick O'Brien, and Melissa Green. Plus a bunch of business people who are presumably also Essendon supporters.

 

[yodellinhank]

I can picture conversations between rusted on Essendon people who only want Essendon people basically turning out like this:

Don't blame me, I voted for Bear and Knackers.

 

[The Donners]

Collingwood supporter?

 

[Lore]

cbf opening it but apparently this is EY's fault.

 

[Beerfish]

EY don't know how to use Google either?

 

[citizen-erased]

cbf opening it but apparently this is EY's fault.

we'd be paying them a pretty penny.
I'd be pretty annoyed too.

 

[Bombermania]

EY would only have been interested in Thorburn's time at the NAB and recruitment is not their core business.

 

[citizen-erased]

EY would only have been interested in Thorburn's time at the NAB and recruitment is not their core business.

they're a consulting firm, hired to support our review.
this is core to what you pay for. Find the gaps we've missed given we're pretty close to all of it
Thorburn's background and the potential risks of his appointment should have been front and centre on their feedback

 

[jmoo wan]

cbf opening it but apparently this is EY's fault.

What were his controversial comments again?

Or is that just the herald-sun, herald-sunning?

 

[The Donners]

cbf opening it but apparently this is EY's fault.

Damage to the brand is as high as during ASAGA in my opinion. It would be remiss of Essendon not to leak they’re unhappy about the 3rd party that was hired to vet their CEO.

 

[Bombermania]

they're a consulting firm, hired to support our review.
this is core to what you pay for. Find the gaps we've missed given we're pretty close to all of it
Thorburn's background and the potential risks of his appointment should have been front and centre on their feedback

EY is a consulting firm but they are not a recruitment firm, and even if they were, many recruiters have limited experience and would only be looking at the job titles on Thorburn's CV but they should have questioned him over his time at the NAB and the banking royal commission.