Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham

 
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so, we taking the petition as our Focus on Footy moment?
Appointing Sheedy to the board was our Focus on Footy moment, except without the actual board challenge.

He's basically our Neil Balme. Wasn't he the central demand of the FoF people, once the board appointed him the whole thing went away?

Sheedy on the board seems like an equivalent level of compromise, without putting him in the actual footy department.
 

ghostdog

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Personally i prefer the quiet achievers - more or less as Brasher presented himself would be fine (as long as they are actually achieving something). I don't think Eddie's style suits who we are, but there is a sameness about our leadership and maybe that communication style needs to change?

Do people think there's a place for the president publicly calling out the players or the football department or is it just grandstanding? I'd rather have anyone than Koch but one thing he does is he beat the drum when they are bad and at least publicly demands better.

As for Kennett he does similar but he is also seems prone to saying stupid stuff just to hear himself talk.
I don't mind the Pres talking loud about team performance either. It supports the coach's messaging to the players and whips them into alignment with coach's vision.
 
If they are attempting to clear up reporting lines at the club then I'm not sure how appointing Sheedy as a director combined with a 'mentor' role to Rutten achieves this.

Wellman already has the football department reporting to him directly apparently. Now the coach will be more or less reporting to a different director as well . Call it what you want if a director is charged with mentoring you that's more or less what it is (or at least very heavily weighted towards how the director wants to handle things). Think of how this move effects the CEO and Head of Football ? There is now another person influencing the coaches who also sits on the board that also decides on their tenure - and he's not the director they report on football matters to...
Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I read it he was available for mentoring if Rutten wants it meaning he will stay out of it unless he's invited in. He hasn't been 'charged with mentoring' nor has that 'role' been specifically allocated as part of his appointment.

Now whether that actually happens or not is perhaps another thing entirely..
 

ghostdog

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Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I read it he was available for mentoring if Rutten wants it meaning he will stay out of it unless he's invited in. He hasn't been 'charged with mentoring' nor has that 'role' been specifically allocated as part of his appointment.

Now whether that actually happens or not is perhaps another thing entirely..
That's how it should be in the situation they've suggested. If it's an organised system, Sheeds would sit in on things like team meetings, simply as an observer, then debrief with Rutten simply by telling him what he observed. It's like a mirror, which then allows Truck the opportunity to raise questions. How Sheeds views the role is anyone's guess. He should draw the line at asking questions which is when it becomes coaching in my view. This is why Woosh was big on 'learnings' I suspect; he asked a lot of questions.
 
That's how it should be in the situation they've suggested. If it's an organised system, Sheeds would sit in on things like team meetings, simply as an observer, then debrief with Rutten simply by telling him what he observed. It's like a mirror, which then allows Truck the opportunity to raise questions. How Sheeds views the role is anyone's guess. He should draw the line at asking questions which is when it becomes coaching in my view. This is why Woosh was big on 'learnings' I suspect; he asked a lot of questions.
Well, no way would I hope that's the set up. He should literally keep the * out of it entirely unless he's asked for mine.
 
Brasher said this morning “the Board is the best place for Kevin, he won’t be involved in the day to day operations”.

You can’t tip out club legends, but this beats having him interfering too much.

Feels like Brasher has driven this, it’s honestly a fairly smart move.

Yeah I’m on board with it, I think you have to get Sheeds involved some how after he put himself out there and this is the best option to do so.

He should have to wear an electronic collar that shocks him when he tries to enter the footy department though.
 
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If he's there, he better be going the throat on stupid decisions.
Find it funny that after the board's handling of him years ago, he's now sitting on it :p

If he can have the guiding effect Balme had on Richmond but from the board - all well and good.
Dubious & sceptical, but will give this one benefit of doubt.
 

CBombers17

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Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I read it he was available for mentoring if Rutten wants it meaning he will stay out of it unless he's invited in. He hasn't been 'charged with mentoring' nor has that 'role' been specifically allocated as part of his appointment.

Now whether that actually happens or not is perhaps another thing entirely..
Ah ok - i don't know how they have posed it. I think you asked the question earlier how will Rutten feel about it? I would extend that and ask how will the CEO and the head of football be feeling about it as well.

Mentoring from marketing is one thing - from a board position it's another. Sheedy could easily become a very influential person in all things football in this new setup. Or as you point out - he might just be asked for very casual advice. Either way he holds a fair bit of power over that decision you would think (given the board sacks the coaches). That places a unique pressure on Rutten who may just be keen to do his job by now.

Personally i think there's just got too much potential to go wrong in too many ways. We already have a pretty good history of stupid s**t to reflect on.
 
Also depends what the hell is meant by a mentor. I have a few people that I would describe as mentors. I don't disclose everything to each of them, and I don't necessarily do what they tell me either. They have different strengths and I rely on each for different types of advice about different things.
 
Brasher's take:

"We have been talking with Kevin in recent months about how we might make better use of his experience and football knowledge to benefit the club and we agreed that the best way of doing this was for him to join the board," Brasher said.

"Kevin will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the footy department, but with our football director, Sean Wellman, and club great, Simon Madden, Kevin will ensure we have a high level of rigour around our football discussions at the board level.

"He will also continue to be available in a mentoring capacity to Ben Rutten whenever Ben requires it."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/sheedy-to-join-essendon-board-20200930-p560iv.html

Sheedy's take:

"My role is to support Sean Wellman as football director and along with Simon Madden, advise the board on football matters, that is my strength and that is what I will focus on," Sheedy said.

"I have more than 50 years of playing, coaching and football experience, and I will bring that to the board to assist with key football department decisions.

"It is as much about asking the right questions, as it is about anything else. Have we done this? Have we thought about that? These are the types of things I will want to bring to the board table.

"We have a good young coach who is going to need our full support, and with Sean Wellman, we are going to provide him with that support from the board to give him the best chance for success."

“I know everyone at the club is as determined as ever to win our next premiership, and now more than ever, we need to keep thinking differently and creatively, on and off the field, to keep growing our football club into the future”

https://www.afl.com.au/news/511812/new-role-for-sheeds-essendon-turns-to-legendary-coach
 
You selling to MWNN?
ObiWan.gif
 
We are Carlton.
No Sheeds is a legend, bleeds red and black. The board which last week were incompetent morons who botched the coaching change and have kept Dodoro for to long are now geniuses.
 
An element of this has to be slight of hand as well, chuck the ferals a bone over *here* while you make constructive steps to push forward over *here*.

Masked magician but for appeasing nuffies.

I’m not saying this is a brilliant move but I’m trying to be pragmatic.
 

CBombers17

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So he's staying on in his marketing role as well? Directors everywhere!

The mentoring thing could be fine and a cuppa every few weeks or it could be a complication - especially if the team has a bad year next year. Rutton may well feel obligated to consult with Sheeds given the club felt some need to formalise this option for some reason (marketing spin? Some other reason?), as opposed to just quietly offering this as an option.

Unless of course it's more of a requirement than just an 'option'...either way, if consulted will Sheeds have the same message as the football department? if Rutton snubs Sheedy or disagrees with his advice will that reflect negatively at board level? Would that consideration effect Ruttons decision making? How much communication will there be to the board directly from Sheedy on this 'mentoring'? Is this just a direct lever for the board (and others) to pull in the football department in ordeet to influence/control and meddle?

People like to think these things are all transparent and handled with maturity but at Essendon that is rarely the case it seems. The team may win plenty next year in which case none of this will matter but that doesn't seem likely. And these are just some possible concerns if we have another debacle next season.

From the outside it appears that the screws are being tightened on the football department. Many might think this is wonderful because it represents change - but the football department is supposed to already know what they are doing (and the CEO) without all the extra involvement. More Chiefs everywhere and extra reporting lines doesn't solve bad appointments (if that's what we are looking at here). Good appointments solve bad appointments.
 
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