Roast The Chronicles of Alan Richardson - Part II - Richo Resigns (16/07)

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NarklesHelmet said:
It's a pretty sweet deal: especially on that salary.

In hindsight, a big part of him getting the job was the "he's a good development coach" myth. I've found it really difficult to see where his good "development" coaching bore fruit at his previous jobs. The thing is, that myth, combined with where our list was at when he took over and his "aw shucks, I'm a good bloke and hard worker" personality bought him a few years.

I fear we are seeing what an actual "development" coach looks like up in Brisbane with Fagan at the helm. You can very quickly see the impact that he has had on their youngsters in the way they move the ball... nothing to do with tackling which is all I have seen from us since 2014.
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It was just some switcheroo with words.

.The highly regarded Alan Richardson, development coach.

.The highly regarded development coach, Alan Richardson.

Basic marketing. You know it's true...
 
VDS66 said:
Don't drag me into it.

Some us prefer to look forward towards the horizon... Other are stuck looking the rear view mirror.

As I posted it's preaching to the converted and looking at the comments on here, it's worked a treat.
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Read that article yesterday. Dismissed it at the time. I am not looking back.....just forward. Just more going over of very old ground. Can't stand the negativity. I am realistic and somewhat cautious about this year. But things can turn around very quickly.
 

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VDS66 said:
We'll make a special cot for you so can sit there and keep throwing your toys out.

Each toy will be attached to an elastic string so no matter how many times you throw them out, they come back.

Like that paddle ball toy I had as a kid.
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Did you see the scruffy lot just got on that bus? And the kent driving it?
I'm walkin there thanks..
 
Premium said:
The issue St Kilda cannot keep sweeping under the carpet


Marnie Cohen

I never thought there would come a day when I applauded someone owning up to a $12 million debt. But here we are.

In his first interview as St Kilda president, business mogul Andrew Bassat opened up about the club’s financial position and the mistakes that have contributed to its debt – specifically the move to Seaford in 2011.

He told The Age, “It was a mistake at the time and it was even worse mistake in hindsight. We shouldn’t have gone to Seaford. The people who made that decision have got a bit to answer for and I think that’s contributed to where we are today, there’s no doubt.

It’s good to see someone being very open and honest in his comments about the club’s off field position.

However, Bassat remained upbeat about the club’s form, despite finishing a lowly 16th in 2018.

For a side that threatens to rise one season, they only seem to fall backwards the next, taking their fault-less fans for a wicked ride.

2018 started off well for the Saints. The club broke its record membership tally (46,301) last season, but when the first official 2019 club membership tally was released in December 2018, the Saints had the lowest number of members of any Victorian club that provided the figure and slumped to 15th overall.

But can you blame supporters for falling off? No, not really. They’re giving this side so much love, loyalty and support to have mediocrity given in return.

Four wins and a draw in 2018 was hardly the response anyone was expecting after an incredibly promising 2017 season.
I watched St Kilda play live twice that year and while the game plan was for the most part boring, it was effective.

It was a super defensive style of play and when the game was played on the Saints’ terms, they successfully dismantled the opposition to appear almost non-existent.

The most memorable was a 67-point thrashing of eventual premiers Richmond in front of a full house at Etihad Stadium.

That win, along with 10 others, put St Kilda in a great position to attack the top eight in 2018. Instead they slid to 16th with a whole lot of problems both on and off the field.

As a reward for 2017 efforts, the Saints were given a chance on the Good Friday stage in 2018. And thanks to a 52-point defeat to North Melbourne, they lost the fixture just as quickly.

St-Kilda-Saints-755x515.jpg

(AAP Image/Joe Castro)

Instead, St Kilda will play Port Adelaide in China… I am sure supporters are delighted by that honour.

At first it didn’t make much sense why a club that isn’t 100 per cent controlled by the AFL would voluntarily take part in Port Adelaide’s lacklustre fixture but since learning about the club’s frighteningly large debt, the answer is now clear as daylight.

In terms of on-field action, the Saints did have a successful start to their JLT pre-season campaign with a solid win over North Melbourne but unfortunately for them, the pre-season is hardly the home-and-away form indicator that it was back in ’90s.

Nowadays it seems the lid is off for the winners, while the fixture is “just a practice game” for the losers. The real test is yet to come.

The signs of improvement aren’t there the same way they are at Brisbane or Carlton. As we saw in 2016 and 2017, when the game plan worked, it really worked. The club finished 9th and 11th respectively – ahead of Richmond, Melbourne, Collingwood and Hawthorn in each or both of those years.

Within 24 months Richmond win a premiership, Collingwood are grand finalists, Hawthorn bounces back into the top four and the Dees win two finals in their best season for over a decade. But for St Kilda it’s a bottom-four finish and another step backwards.

Despite the off-field issues of crippling debt, China, low membership numbers to start the season and on-field lack of performance, the biggest issue of them all is still receiving full support of the club and in some ways, the supporters.

Under Alan Richardson this club isn’t making much progress and instead of the new boss demanding an improvement on the field, he’s given full support to the coach and everything he’s doing.

Bassat told The Age that the club is, “backing (Richardson) unambiguously to achieve” success.

That’s a fair enough statement to make about a coach who has a proven record of some success during his tenure but the reality is Richardson has had none. And he never appears too bothered by it.

There’s no emotion and no accountability, instead churning out the same stock standard vanilla comments during his press conferences and weekly media appearances.

Come on, Richo. Get angry, get frustrated, cry of sadness or joy. Give the people something to show that this means something to you. Because nothing suggests to me that you’re passionate about this club and its success (or lack of it).

Instead, he’s allowed the supporters to be okay with mediocrity and chalked up “honourable losses” as a win.

I have St Kilda-supporting friends who were proud of the team’s efforts against Richmond (28-point loss at MCG) and West Coast (13-point loss at Optus) in 2018.

Credit where it’s due, they put on a sensational performance against the eventual premiers at home in what was one of their best games of the season – but too often that same effort isn’t there.

These “I am proud of the effort” losses don’t change the fact that the club isn’t walking away with the four points. There is now an attitude of accepting average results and being okay with coming close without actually winning.

Bassat said the club has spent plenty of time developing the club’s culture. Was settling for mediocrity part of that?

This is a club crying for someone to inspire them, to take ownership and leadership and at the moment, coach Richo isn’t the answer.
For a decade, leadership came in the form of Nick Riewoldt but when he retired at the end of 2017, he left too big of a hole for Richo to cover alone.

The heartbreaking reality is that no one has really stood up in his place.

I appreciate the honesty and transparency from Bassat about the club’s off-field position. It’s a step in the right direction but the Saints still have a long way to go.

The question is can the new St Kilda president steer his new venture in a successful direction, or will it continue on the road to nowhere?

This made me laugh
There’s no emotion and no accountability, instead churning out the same stock standard vanilla comments during his press conferences and weekly media appearances.

Come on, Richo. Get angry, get frustrated, cry of sadness or joy. Give the people something to show that this means something to you. Because nothing suggests to me that you’re passionate about this club and its success (or lack of it).
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Hang on, so what's the issue we can't keep sweeping under the carpet? The debt, or Richo? Or that we are bad?

Have to say I think the article got it pretty wrong. In my opinion, at times Richo appears too emotional, frustrated and angry. And as for Carlton having shown more signs than us, is that a joke?

China is a financial decision. Other teams sell home games.

Newsflash, we had a bad season in 2018. Stop the presses. I just don't understand why we're the flavour of the month to twist the knife into? Just a really weird, kind of pointless article that tells us nothing.
 
lewdogs said:
Hang on, so what's the issue we can't keep sweeping under the carpet? The debt, or Richo? Or that we are bad?

Have to say I think the article got it pretty wrong. In my opinion, at times Richo appears too emotional, frustrated and angry. And as for Carlton having shown more signs than us, is that a joke?

China is a financial decision. Other teams sell home games.

Newsflash, we had a bad season in 2018. Stop the presses. I just don't understand why we're the flavour of the month to twist the knife into? Just a really weird, kind of pointless article that tells us nothing.
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I don't care what they think , we cop it all the time , just more ammo for the guys to rip it apart this year.
 
Mowman said:
I think coming into his 6th year he needs to take some ownership on a lot of things including where the list is at
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Nathan burke said on radio that we were basically recruiting players that didn't suit what the coach wanted to play like. That's either stupid, incompetent or we were expecting that Richo was only keeping a seat warm. That's why a Neil Balme type overseer was a priority. Hopefully Gubby has grabbed the reins and will take us in one direction.
 

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gringo2011 said:
Nathan burke said on radio that we were basically recruiting players that didn't suit what the coach wanted to play like. That's either stupid, incompetent or we were expecting that Richo was only keeping a seat warm. That's why a Neil Balme type overseer was a priority. Hopefully Gubby has grabbed the reins and will take us in one direction.
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Spot on, Gringo. I think the "Clayton's sacking" of AR started as a bit if a piss take, but I get the feeling it is starting to shift towards reality. Ratten, Lade, Playfair, the Gubster et al. are the real power behind the throne. I'm loving Satan's work.
 
gringo2011 said:
Nathan burke said on radio that we were basically recruiting players that didn't suit what the coach wanted to play like. That's either stupid, incompetent or we were expecting that Richo was only keeping a seat warm. That's why a Neil Balme type overseer was a priority. Hopefully Gubby has grabbed the reins and will take us in one direction.
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did he say what kind of players richo wanted us to recruit?
 
gringo2011 said:
Nathan burke said on radio that we were basically recruiting players that didn't suit what the coach wanted to play like. That's either stupid, incompetent or we were expecting that Richo was only keeping a seat warm. That's why a Neil Balme type overseer was a priority. Hopefully Gubby has grabbed the reins and will take us in one direction.
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Was this ‘what the coach wants us to play like’ based on Richo’s game plan to date (and not necessarily and changes implemented for 2019)?

I know it will help that he is on a reported $700k per year but if that’s the case I don’t know how anyone can work in that environment. Will be really tough for him this year if he is just a toothless tiger keeping a seat warm.

Or maybe he has accepted that his role is to be a man manager and work with the players to make sure they are happy, getting the best out of themselves and knows what makes them tick? His role’s emphasis is more on managing the communications and high level strategy to ensure they are following the game plan and structures set by the assistants. His attendance at the leadership courses overseas points to this too, it’s all about feedback and messaging more than improving tactical nous.

Combine that with this from an earlier Saints article this year: He (Richo) has turned to Gary Wyse, an expert in communication from Canberra who spends one day a week critiquing Richardson's messaging to players.

I mean if he can improve these areas with the players and coaches and that leads to improved performance, that is still success right? The people at work who report into me are way more talented at what they do than I was when I was on the tools. But that doesn’t diminish my role which is to help make sure they understand (and have input into) our strategy, they’ve got the right environment to be able to do their best work and remove some of the other blockers and manage the political bullshit. So maybe it’s okay to be the head coach and not have all of the answers as long as you have the people who do - quality in assistant coaches / support and together you can execute it.

So he’s either keeping a seat warm or Lethlean and co actually see him as a good man manager who can help steer the ship and let a much more adept crew decide how it operates.
 
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Diehard Saint said:
I’m just thinking that Basset and co will be far more shrewd and unforgiving than the last lot. He had no say in Richo’s extension and has no loyalty to him, and I reckon given his business acumen will have no compunction in making the ruthless decision if/ when necessary.

Remember it’s much easier to replace a coach than four or five ( hopefully) star players. Especially if supporters are braying for it.

Make no mistake, I am not a Richo supporter, but I just think that as the decision has been made, we just have to grin and bear it for the meantime. And hope like hell that he actually can turn it around. We are between a rock and hard place though, because if we do improve substantially due to the input of Ratten, Richo will get the credit.
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Bassat didn't just join the organisation. He was sitting on the board that gave richo the extension. There has been a bit of change at board level. Maybe 2-3 changes.
 
StCicatriz said:
Bassat didn't just join the organisation. He was sitting on the board that gave richo the extension. There has been a bit of change at board level. Maybe 2-3 changes.
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I stand corrected. Do we know whether the extension had to be a unanimous decision?

However, when he said under his watch footy was going to be the main objective, it appeared to me that he would take no prisoners on the way to improving our football results. I dont think he'll baulk at sacking Richo if push comes to shove with just one year left on his contract.

It’s just the feeling I got that he wasn’t particularly enraptured with Richo. Do you remember he had to come out in the media to clarify a statement he made when he first became President which seemed to be very lukewarm support of Richo?
 
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triggering bro said:
The biggest fraud in modern coaching is our Keyser Choze. Will be held in similar esteem to Bailey, Neeld & Timid & admired by the blind & those that continually fluctuate their opinion to create an opposition point of view. Damn son, some posts haven’t aged well in this thread :moustache:
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It makes him seem much more cool and dangerous that he is though, so far his legacy is to make us as beige and innocuous as he could manage. We don't really have a brand, a vision, an obvious end goal. We seem to be under a fog of blandness with Richo in charge. We are a nice club with no real marketability, no stars, no noise, no momentum etc. We are kind of irrelevant to other fans.
 
MOLTEN GANGLANDS said:
did he say what kind of players richo wanted us to recruit?
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Hard contested ball winners with a blue collar edge seemed to be the inference. Guys that were combative and won their own pill. I think he might have been suggesting Billings was like the anti-Richo, didn't like the bash and crash and needed some one to get it for him.

I think Malaka was onto something with coaches like to mould the team in their image like dog owners.
 
Indie Rock said:
Was this ‘what the coach wants us to play like’ based on Richo’s game plan to date (and not necessarily and changes implemented for 2019)?

I know it will help that he is on a reported $700k per year but if that’s the case I don’t know how anyone can work in that environment. Will be really tough for him this year if he is just a toothless tiger keeping a seat warm.

Or maybe he has accepted that his role is to be a man manager and work with the players to make sure they are happy, getting the best out of themselves and knows what makes them tick? His role’s emphasis is more on managing the communications and high level strategy to ensure they are following the game plan and structures set by the assistants. His attendance at the leadership courses overseas points to this too, it’s all about feedback and messaging more than improving tactical nous.

Combine that with this from an earlier Saints article this year: He (Richo) has turned to Gary Wyse, an expert in communication from Canberra who spends one day a week critiquing Richardson's messaging to players.

I mean if he can improve these areas with the players and coaches and that leads to improved performance, that is still success right? The people at work who report into me are way more talented at what they do than I was when I was on the tools. But that doesn’t diminish my role is to help make sure they understand (and have input into) our strategy, they’ve got the right environment to be able to do their best work and remove some of the other blockers and manage the political bullshit. So maybe it’s okay to be the head coach and not have all of the answers as long as you have the people who do - quality in assistant coaches / support and together you can execute it.

So he’s either keeping a seat warm or Lethlean and co actually see him as a good man manager who can help steer the ship and let a much more adept crew decide how it operates.
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That's the way football coaching is heading. The major difference between an AFL club and a soccer or basketball club, is that you have 18 guys on the field on a huge oval. There is an element of herding cats about it. An autocratic person struggles in that environment because it's a 360 degree game for everyone not just the players. If you can't delegate out to your assistants, then you are going to struggle. I would be s**t at coaching, I think I know better than everyone else and would do the control freak thing and shut out the assistants.
 
Diehard Saint said:
I stand corrected. Do we know whether the extension had to be a unanimous decision?

However, when he said under his watch footy was going to be the main objective, it appeared to me that he would take no prisoners on the way to improving our football results. I dont think he'll baulk at sacking Richo if push comes to shove with just one year left on his contract.

It’s just the feeling I got that he wasn’t particularly enraptured with Richo. Do you remember he had to come out in the media to clarify a statement he made when he first became President which seemed to be very lukewarm support of Richo?
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no one knows :-( it could very well be possible that the CEO recommended the extension and gave his reasons why. the board just then ticked it off.

i think you are probably right, or atleast i hope so with the rest, with a greater focus on football and sharper edge to accountability. we really need to get going and be more proactive rather than letting seasons slip by
 
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