dutchy12
Club Legend
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- Sep 18, 2004
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Did anyone else read it?
She was critical of Paul Gardiner for coming out and going against his word in regards to Neale's coaching position.
Essentially the whole season Gardiner has been saying his position wold be reviewed at the end of the year now it is going to be over the next 6 weeks.
Anyway the MFc for too long has been a club with a "soft" culture. What Gardiner did was somewhat of a polar oppisote and he should be plauded on his effort to do so. Seriously the MFC should employ a system that if a coach has not won a premiship in 6 years time of him being at the realm then he should be moved on.
'NEALE Daniher — whose season has been punctuated by defeat, despair and disappointment — did not see Friday night's wholesale surrender to Richmond coming. Nor could he have predicted the self-serving attack upon his coaching future by his own chairman the following day.
Daniher could well be at another club next year — or out of a coaching job altogether — but the fact is his career is at the crossroads. That's how it is for AFL coaches at the end of contracts. As Daniher himself said several years ago, the scrutiny has become a blood sport.
But he could not have expected it to unfold so quickly. Yesterday, Melbourne was expected to release a statement pointing to an official review of Daniher's performance — one that will decide his future. But last night, it appeared no statement would be forthcoming until at least today and it is believed the delay involved intervention by the beleaguered coach, who had issue with some of review process criteria.
Daniher seems steadfast in his self-belief, but he would have awoken on Saturday morning still shellshocked by what he saw at the MCG the night before. Paul Gardner's comments would have knocked him for six, given that they appear to have broken an unofficial agreement between coach and chairman. The team certainly deserved significant scrutiny but was there any point in breaking the coach's spirit with another Friday night game looming?
Worse, the comments reeked of politics. The Melbourne faithful did not need to hear from Gardner that the coach and the players had their futures on the line. Surely they knew that anyway.
Gardner insisted that while the coaching review would be brought forward now that Melbourne's season was done and dusted, the off-field picture for the club was bright. That is not exactly true.
The chairman says the club would make a similar profit to last year's $750,000. This seems difficult to believe, given that the club's normally poor attendances have been poorer than last season.
Membership is slightly up and the club should be debt-free by the end of next year, but the fact remains that Melbourne's results are bolstered by an annual $1.6 million from the AFL and the Melbourne Cricket Club. Like every other club, the AFL's broadcast stipend of $1.2 million will help as well.
The Demons are still almost three years away from moving to their new Olympic Park home, but for now Daniher's team trains in substandard facilities on a small ground. This does not excuse its performance on Friday, but nor should the board start backslapping itself.
The fledgling partnerships with China and Team Melbourne remain speculative in terms of the club's growth, identity and profit. The Lord Mayor is the club's No. 1 ticket-holder but the Melbourne City Council has not officially signed on to Team Melbourne.
Gardner's comments on Saturday could be described as divisive in that he separated the on-field from off-, at a time when the AFL — which meets the club regularly over its finances — believes the club is far from out of the woods.
Now, like Rod Butterss and Rick Hart before him, Gardner has handed his coach an extra gig he didn't need at this particular time — emotional damage control. His statement three days ago that the coaching review would begin as a result of the round-12 loss contradicted every message communicated by the club since the end of last season.
Melbourne has endured a season of poor performances, an unusually high number of costly injuries, and serious player issues involving Daniel Ward and Byron Pickett. Having kept the lid on the potential fallout after close to half a season of losses, Gardner has opened it.
Gardner admitted last night that his comments could have been untimely, said he had spoken to Daniher at length to clarify his comments, and said the coach accepted his explanation. Daniher last night refused to comment on what his chairman had said. He can surely see the writing on the wall.'
She was critical of Paul Gardiner for coming out and going against his word in regards to Neale's coaching position.
Essentially the whole season Gardiner has been saying his position wold be reviewed at the end of the year now it is going to be over the next 6 weeks.
Anyway the MFc for too long has been a club with a "soft" culture. What Gardiner did was somewhat of a polar oppisote and he should be plauded on his effort to do so. Seriously the MFC should employ a system that if a coach has not won a premiship in 6 years time of him being at the realm then he should be moved on.
'NEALE Daniher — whose season has been punctuated by defeat, despair and disappointment — did not see Friday night's wholesale surrender to Richmond coming. Nor could he have predicted the self-serving attack upon his coaching future by his own chairman the following day.
Daniher could well be at another club next year — or out of a coaching job altogether — but the fact is his career is at the crossroads. That's how it is for AFL coaches at the end of contracts. As Daniher himself said several years ago, the scrutiny has become a blood sport.
But he could not have expected it to unfold so quickly. Yesterday, Melbourne was expected to release a statement pointing to an official review of Daniher's performance — one that will decide his future. But last night, it appeared no statement would be forthcoming until at least today and it is believed the delay involved intervention by the beleaguered coach, who had issue with some of review process criteria.
Daniher seems steadfast in his self-belief, but he would have awoken on Saturday morning still shellshocked by what he saw at the MCG the night before. Paul Gardner's comments would have knocked him for six, given that they appear to have broken an unofficial agreement between coach and chairman. The team certainly deserved significant scrutiny but was there any point in breaking the coach's spirit with another Friday night game looming?
Worse, the comments reeked of politics. The Melbourne faithful did not need to hear from Gardner that the coach and the players had their futures on the line. Surely they knew that anyway.
Gardner insisted that while the coaching review would be brought forward now that Melbourne's season was done and dusted, the off-field picture for the club was bright. That is not exactly true.
The chairman says the club would make a similar profit to last year's $750,000. This seems difficult to believe, given that the club's normally poor attendances have been poorer than last season.
Membership is slightly up and the club should be debt-free by the end of next year, but the fact remains that Melbourne's results are bolstered by an annual $1.6 million from the AFL and the Melbourne Cricket Club. Like every other club, the AFL's broadcast stipend of $1.2 million will help as well.
The Demons are still almost three years away from moving to their new Olympic Park home, but for now Daniher's team trains in substandard facilities on a small ground. This does not excuse its performance on Friday, but nor should the board start backslapping itself.
The fledgling partnerships with China and Team Melbourne remain speculative in terms of the club's growth, identity and profit. The Lord Mayor is the club's No. 1 ticket-holder but the Melbourne City Council has not officially signed on to Team Melbourne.
Gardner's comments on Saturday could be described as divisive in that he separated the on-field from off-, at a time when the AFL — which meets the club regularly over its finances — believes the club is far from out of the woods.
Now, like Rod Butterss and Rick Hart before him, Gardner has handed his coach an extra gig he didn't need at this particular time — emotional damage control. His statement three days ago that the coaching review would begin as a result of the round-12 loss contradicted every message communicated by the club since the end of last season.
Melbourne has endured a season of poor performances, an unusually high number of costly injuries, and serious player issues involving Daniel Ward and Byron Pickett. Having kept the lid on the potential fallout after close to half a season of losses, Gardner has opened it.
Gardner admitted last night that his comments could have been untimely, said he had spoken to Daniher at length to clarify his comments, and said the coach accepted his explanation. Daniher last night refused to comment on what his chairman had said. He can surely see the writing on the wall.'
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