Chris Connolly

[Spirit of 39]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/a-good-man-to-fill-a-silence-20130221-2eu9d.html

A ripping article from Martin Flanagan. Chris was made the scapegoat and willingly took the punishment on the chin because he loves our footy club a great deal. Having met and spoken to him a few times over the years, he is a really good fella and nothing is too much trouble for him.

The club will be poorer for not having him around this year.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Great article. Thanks for putting it up here S39.

I also like the fact that the club is sticking right by him and there will be a job for him once everything is over in 2014. It's a shame he was made the scapegoat but in the long run he has helped us enormously.

And what a different a journalist makes. We go from the dribble of Caro to the brilliance and insightfulnes of Flanagan.

 

[Tulip]

The club will be poorer for not having him around this year.

It really won't.

Sometimes, you don't have to fill a silence in a professional environment, but you need to use it to think and reflect.

There's a reason Neeld and co. wanted him out of the FD ASAP and shunted him to media, he isn't serious enough. People complain about how our players don't take losses seriously, where does that attitude come from?

No disrespect to Chris Connolly as a person, because he is a very good one, but I don't think he had the right attitude as a GFM and that rubbed off on the players.

And how could our club be any bloody poorer than it was last year?

 

[Tulip]

And what a different a journalist makes. We go from the dribble of Caro to the brilliance and insightfulnes of Flanagan.

Friend, I have to pull you up on this: It's drivel as opposed to dribble.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Friend, I have to pull you up on this: It's drivel as opposed to dribble.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Spirit of 39]

It really won't.

Sometimes, you don't have to fill a silence in a professional environment, but you need to use it to think and reflect.

There's a reason Neeld and co. wanted him out of the FD ASAP and shunted him to media, he isn't serious enough. People complain about how our players don't take losses seriously, where does that attitude come from?

No disrespect to Chris Connolly as a person, because he is a very good one, but I don't think he had the right attitude as a GFM and that rubbed off on the players.

And how could our club be any bloody poorer than it was last year?

Not poorer in a literal sense.... Poorer in a spiritual sense. Chris is well liked by all around the club. He does a mountain of work behind the scenes and is well respected.

And I'm not sure of the relevance of your comments about Connolly and his value to the football department. He no longer works with the FD. He does a great job liasing with supporters, supporter groups, sponsors, community groups, etc. (Some would say he has always been more suited to this type of role.) He sells the MFC like few others. Judging him by his work with the FD department pre-Neeld is very harsh. We all have moments we'd probably rather forget.

 

[LeverPuller]

Friend, I have to pull you up on this: It's drivel as opposed to dribble.

In Caro's case it's a bit of both...

Look, Cuddles hasn't covered himself in glory. But at the same time, he's still one of the most passionate MFC blokes around. I'd rather have him going in to bat for us than Gerard Healy or (god forbid) Gardner.

 

[bing181]

Judging him by his work with the FD department pre-Neeld is very harsh.

I don't know that we'll ever really know what happened, so hard to judge one way or another. Though perhaps he realised earlier than most that it wasn't going to work out with Bailey, and for better or worse, acted accordingly.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

I think he's taken the fall for Schwab.

 

[Captain Jack]

Caro dwibbles out her dwivel... So yeah, bit of both.

 

[PureFooty]

Connolls came to my house once, he basically chewed my ear off for the first 40 mins, and there I was worrying about doing the same thing to him! Seems like a good bloke, I don't think it's fair to say that he didn't take things serious enough. The man has to be given credit, his credentials are far greater than most people in the AFL let alone the Dees. After all, he did Coach fremantle to their first finals appearance. So he isn't just a jokester. Did he get too involved in things? Maybe. But I couldn't blame him, too many people were getting involved in things that wern't there business, there was no structure within the club, but this we already know. He has great passion for the club, and perhaps he overstepped his mark, but those are the things you do when you've got the club at first though, not your self, like some of the other Melbourne entities who don't need to be named.