McLardy: Players signed, extension for Schwab & response on list management

[hardtack 10,626]

Melbourne has Cameron Schwab. He previously was at Richmond & Freo who both faired poorly when he was there & so is Melbourne now. That says something.

But I was under the impression Freemantle fared quite well from an administrative point of view, during Schwab's tenure.

As an aside, Rob Mac... in LA with a guitar... could your post be regarded as Mackenzie's theory? ;-)

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

Also, getting too involved in Footy matters only shows to me that he is passionate about the club. He's stepped back now, and if things are running well i see no reason not to keep him on.

In this regard things are not running well. The evidence is clear to see by our performances. Just as bad as the Barassi days where the overbearing attitude and big name recruits only made things worse. It took 5 hard seasons then before we got back to basics with a clear focus.

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

But I was under the impression Freemantle fared quite well from an administrative point of view, during Schwab's tenure.

As an aside, Rob Mac... in LA with a guitar... could your post be regarded as Mackenzie's theory? ;-)

But I was under the impression Freemantle fared quite well from an administrative point of view, during Schwab's tenure.

As an aside, Rob Mac... in LA with a guitar... could your post be regarded as Mackenzie's theory? ;-)

He was alleged to have interfered a lot in the FD and drafting(sounds familiar). Have a look at their drafting record when he was there. Pretty bad. Getting Des Headland for picks 3 and 19 comes to mind.

[DemonWA 3,936]

He previously was at Richmond & Freo who both faired poorly when he was there & so is Melbourne now.

I'm interested to hear why people say he didn’t do a good job at Freo? Fremantle are in a better position than ever right now, probably with little to do with Schwab, but before Schwab/Connelly Freo were an absolute joke.

When I hear Freo supporters bag the Schwab/Connelly years I never quite understand what reasons they have for the bad mouthing. Didnt they clear the clubs debt and make finals for the first time under those guys?

[DemonWA 3,936]

The evidence is clear to see by our performances.

Please elaborate on the evidence, bacasue as per my first post in the topic, i have never seen hard facts that say X problem is down to Scwhab and Scwab only.

[rpfc 28,763]

I have said this before - I can understand if the board decided that it is time to move on from Cameron. But the crises of 2012 are not his (Jimmy, Polis, Jurrah, poor start, Neeld accusations, Davey implications, etc), and as much as he was a divisive figure in 2011 - he has been very effective in 2012 (revamped FD w/ Craig and Misson, OPEL, Webjet, bringing Hertz back, Progressive Insurance, etc).

We may move on but we have to make sure we are moving on to an able successor. So Cameron may get an extension for that reason.

I have heard that some former sponsors are not happy with how they were treated under Schwab and that is very disconcerting but the slate is clean in that regard so if they are happy with things then that might sway the board.

We will see what happens.

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

Please elaborate on the evidence, bacasue as per my first post in the topic, i have never seen hard facts that say X problem is down to Scwhab and Scwab only.

The only tangible fact is that we stink as a competitive football team and there is ample evidence of many allegations on the public record linked directly to CS as to why.

They include;

Concerns over development of young players.

That we may have tanked for up to 2 entire seasons as part of a grand plan to corral all the choice draft picks.

The shabby treatment and discarding of senior players.

Players who have raised concerns marginalised by the club.

Ongoing interference in FD matters that were supposed to have stopped but again brought up prior to 186 and where CS was going to be sacked.

The revelation of the facts is not helped by the board suppressing discussion on the 186 debacle at the AGM. They can cover up and make excuses as much as they like but they can't lead horses to water and make them drink it.

Edited August 6, 2012 by america de cali

[Guest José Mourinho]

I want to like CS, I really do, but I just find him a bit... NQR.

That said, looking at his results, he has fared rather well at times, and most criticisms are based on rumour and innuendo with little evidence.

The biggest factor is what other candidates are available, because we really want to avoid having to re-install that revolving door on the CEO's office.

[binman 43,734]

I'd say that Jeremy Howe is as good of a sponsor for Webjet - as they are for us:)

Except Howe doesn't need their help to get into the air!

[Axis of Bob 11,841]

In the game, players require that little bit extra to get an edge to at least keep up to the competition. All the drafts, talent, money, facilities will not help if players dont have the psychological desire, loyalty and commitment to make it all work. At the moment we are a hollow club spiritually and nothing over the course of the season has shown that we have improved in this regard. The players couldn't even raise a yawn to honour the passing of Jimmy. Somehow I dont believe anything will change whilst CS and his grand master plan remain. Most evidence points to him for creating an environment that is divisive and mistrustful amongst the players and they perform accordingly. I thought the board may have had some wisdom and seen this but it appears not. This saga is not over yet.

I have trying to work out if your vendetta against Schwab was about something that I wasn't privvy to, or possibly something insightful and important.

It is now obvious to me that it isn't. Your argument is that the players are playing badly, therefore it's the CEO. Not honouring Stynes, by playing poorly, was a rebellion by the playing group against Schwab?!?!? Wow.

[Guest José Mourinho]

Beggars belief, doesn't it??!

Just ADC trolling again.

There's no way anyone could really consider that to be a logical argument.

[Choko 493]

Beggars belief, doesn't it??!

Just ADC trolling again.

There's no way anyone could really consider that to be a logical argument.

It is far better to ignore it.

[Rob Mac...... 638]

But I was under the impression Freemantle fared quite well from an administrative point of view, during Schwab's tenure.

As an aside, Rob Mac... in LA with a guitar... could your post be regarded as Mackenzie's theory? ;-)

I'm interested to hear why people say he didn’t do a good job at Freo? Fremantle are in a better position than ever right now, probably with little to do with Schwab, but before Schwab/Connelly Freo were an absolute joke.

When I hear Freo supporters bag the Schwab/Connelly years I never quite understand what reasons they have for the bad mouthing. Didnt they clear the clubs debt and make finals for the first time under those guys?

I happily concede that you 2 (& most others here) probably know much more than me on the subject. I don't know details of his Tigers & Freo employment, was just quoting someone I hugely respect whose point was: that the CEO runs the companies' daily business & needs to be very bright to be on top of everything all the time; that after meeting CS a few times he didn't think him bright enough to be ideal for it. I almost didn't post it, & possibly shouldn't have because it's against CS & he may be the greatest fellow in the world, in fact my friend personally liked him.

I agree we should keep someone in the job for several years (CS or whoever) plus we should always canvas options. How can we get those with the best football & business acumen at the club, especially how if some of those choosing don't have it? [Not that I'm saying they're incompetent, I'm clueless about that, but it seems since 1964 that the ship could have been steered better.]

[Hannibal 5,814]

Defending Schwab seems about as popular as saying that you rate Terry Wallace's views on list management, but I reckon Schwab gets some pretty unfair treatment round here. There's little doubt that he meddled too much in footy department matters, but he's seemingly rectified that behavior; and when I look at some of his raw achievements one can't help but be impressed.

Our sponsorship has been at record levels, our membership is at record levels and our financial position is supposedly at it's strongest since we broke with the MCC in 1981. And speaking of the MCC, Schwab has presided over an agreement that now makes us once again a section of the MCC and he's also orchestrated an agreement that ensures a better financial dividend from the MCC. Also, we now own the Bentleigh club, which places us in a stronger financial position with greater leverage.

The first person I heard say that we "grew out of a ground and not a suburb" was Schwab. I've always felt that he gets the MFC and our difficulties. He understands our nuances and challenges better than most and he embraces our rich history, which says a lot considering he grew up a Richmond supporter. He's responsible for our re-branding with the emblem change. An emblem that reflects our legacy to those lost in wars, our history in writing the rules of the game and our longevity. Whether you like the blazers or not it's another sign that he wants us to embrace our heritage. Does anyone give a better speech when discussing our club and its place in history ?

But those that seemingly don't like him want to put every poor playing performance, bad recruiting decision, or past coaching inadequacies at his feet. I'm not suggesting that he's above scrutiny, or that he hasn't made mistakes, but equally there's been much to like. Stynes virtually begged him to come back to the club such was our squalid state. Off the field things are now looking very sound and for that Schwab must take much of the credit and I'm glad that the Board has recognised his good work. Clearly we all want our on-field fortunes to change and it remains the club's greatest challenge, but off-field he's presided over a club that now has no excuses, or impediments to make this can happen. I have a feeling he'll leave a lasting positive legacy to the MFC.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Ben-Hur

[old55 23,687]

Defending Schwab seems about as popular as saying that you rate Terry Wallace's views on list management, but I reckon Schwab gets some pretty unfair treatment round here. There's little doubt that he meddled too much in footy department matters, but he's seemingly rectified that behavior; and when I look at some of his raw achievements one can't help but be impressed.

Agree, it seems to me from the outside that he was "meddling" in the football department because he didn't rate the direction that Bailey was taking us in but no-one was listening to him. I don't see that as a failing.

The first person I heard say the we "grew out of a ground and not a suburb" was Schwab. I've always felt that he gets the MFC and our difficulties. He understands our nuances and challenges better than most and he embraces our rich history, which says a lot considering he grew up a Richmond supporter. He's responsible for our re-branding with the emblem change. An emblem that reflects our legacy to those lost in wars, our history in writing the rules of the game and our longevity. Whether you like the blazers or not it's another sign that he wants us to embrace our heritage. Does anyone give a better speech when discussing our club and its place in history ?

Some don't like that and say he focuses too much on our past, but I see that he has a plan for differentiating us in a crowded market. Maybe he should have changed our name to iMelbourne and got us trending?

[DemonWA 3,936]

Agree, it seems to me from the outside that he was "meddling" in the football department because he didn't rate the direction that Bailey was taking us in but no-one was listening to him. I don't see that as a failing.

Thats a good point, in his position at the club i'd expect him to stand up and drive some sort of plan if there was no plan coming from elsewhere. Damned if you do, damned if you dont!

Having said that, that's why Neeld is worth his pay cheque even though our win loss record is abysmal. At least the footy dept is united and clear on what they are trying to achieve now.

[Ouch! 2,266]

Just another thing to add. I am sure that CS as CEO of the MFC has numerous benchmarks that the board would use to assess his suitability for the position. This assessment would determine his eligibility for bonuses. Almost every CEO of a sizeable company in the country would operate similarly. Don McLardy would have looked at these benchmarks, looked at the year and the board would have discussed whether or not to offer CS an extension or not.

Just cos it happens behind the doors of a boardroom meeting doesn't mean that the club is being negligent in assessing options for a new CEO and more to the point just cos we hear that they want to extend his contract doesn't mean that it hasn't been discussed at length prior to now.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Oucher

[Its Time for Another 4,287]

Defending Schwab seems about as popular as saying that you rate Terry Wallace's views on list management, but I reckon Schwab gets some pretty unfair treatment round here. There's little doubt that he meddled too much in footy department matters, but he's seemingly rectified that behavior; and when I look at some of his raw achievements one can't help but be impressed.

Our sponsorship has been at record levels, our membership is at record levels and our financial position is supposedly at it's strongest since we broke with the MCC in 1981. And speaking of the MCC, Schwab has presided over an agreement that now makes us once again a section of the MCC and he's also orchestrated an agreement that ensures a better financial dividend from the MCC. Also, we now own the Bentleigh club, which places us in a stronger financial position with greater leverage.

The first person I heard say the we "grew out of a ground and not a suburb" was Schwab. I've always felt that he gets the MFC and our difficulties. He understands our nuances and challenges better than most and he embraces our rich history, which says a lot considering he grew up a Richmond supporter. He's responsible for our re-branding with the emblem change. An emblem that reflects our legacy to those lost in wars, our history in writing the rules of the game and our longevity. Whether you like the blazers or not it's another sign that he wants us to embrace our heritage. Does anyone give a better speech when discussing our club and its place in history ?

But those that seemingly don't like him want to put every poor playing performance, bad recruiting decision, or past coaching inadequacies at his feet. I'm not suggesting that he's above scrutiny, or that he hasn't made mistakes, but equally there's been much to like. Stynes virtually begged him to come back to the club such was our squalid state. Off the field things are now looking very sound and for that Schwab must take much of the credit and I'm glad that the Board has recognised his good work. Clearly we all want our on-field fortunes to change and it remains the club's greatest challenge, but off-field he's presided over a club that now has no excuses, or impediments to make this can happen. I have a feeling he'll leave a lasting positive legacy to the MFC.

This is just about the only informed post on this discussion. What a lot of uninformed drivel. When Schwab went to Freo it was a financial basket case with massive debt, no membership base and no sponsors. When he left he fixed all of that. He set up a solid viable financial future for the Club. It's absolute crap to say he was a disaster for Freo.

He came here with a Club in even worse shape. In his time the debt is fixed, the worst facilities in the competition have been fixed, the football dept has been addressed, the membership is building, he has put into place the beginnings of a financial base for the future of the Club through the MCC relationship, rumoured to be worth $1mill plus per year and the Bentleigh Club purchase. Sponsorships are building and a huge amount of work has been done to engage our supporter base in a way that hasn't been done before. Eg Foundation functions, Mates of Melbourne etc

People are carrying on about him meddling in the football dept but what do you want the CEO to do when he can see it isn't functioning up to standard. We are only learning after Bailey has gone how bad his development of the list and the players was. Schwab obviously could see this and had to step on toes to get it fixed. Who isn't happy that he did that and we have moved on. There's a structure in place now that I am confident Bailey didn't have the experience to create.

As far as I am concerned now that those things have been done the CEO's role going forward is to work out the long term strategy for developing a sustainable membership and revenue base for the future survival of the Club. Casey is supposed to be part of that but Connolly who is responsible for that told a function this year that the Club has spent $2.4mill in Casey and has 1500 new members since they moved there. Is that the solution to our future membership. Doesn't look like it at this stage but at least it's a start.

Rather than bag him out of hand I'd like to know what the next strategies are that are being implemented before I make a judgement. Does anyone know? I haven't seen any evidence of it here and yet so many people want him flicked. We need a CEO who will grow long term membership and he has a track record of doing that at Freo and it has grown significantly since he has been at MFC. I would like to know his next steps before carrying on like so many uninformed people here. Hopefully he has presented that to the Board and they like it enough to renew.

Edited August 6, 2012 by It's Time

[Dr. Gonzo 24,274]

I'm of the opinion that we should canvas options before considering reappointing Schwab. If there is a better person out there, particularly from a successful background at a strong club, then I would look very closely at them.

I don't buy into ADC's argument that he is the reason blokes (in particular well paid senior players) have fallen short of providing what the club needs on field, but also I don't like the fact that his people skills are not as evidently strong as you'd want in a person in that position.

He is a holdover from a troubled past and should ideally be replaced with a Neeld-type outsider who comes from a successful environment. I'm a big believer that this 'old boys' element within the club needs to be knocked on the head.

I agree with most of this but you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you start looking for a replacement don't expect Schwab to stay on if we can't find anyone better.

[whelan45 203]

I judge CS on the off-field results. We were an enormous going concern risk before CS came to the club. This position has improved enormously since CS came to the club. The only influence he has over the playing group is the resources he puts behind that. Pretty obvious that area has improved out of sight since CS came on board (i.e. 2 coaches for each line; Neil Craig; Dave Mission; Todd Viney; Josh Mahoney and Chris Connelly in brand new roles etc). He has obviously had issues in quickly securing significant major sponsors. Good luck to any CEO in securing significant long term sponsorship deals. We are hardly in a position to demand lucrative deals. Never the less, let's sack him...

I don't work at the club, so I have no idea about the inside workings of the club. So from the outside looking in, I find it hard to fault CS. Unless I'm keen on making huge statements about things that I'm only guessing and really have no idea about.

Most of the negative things people write about CS on here are fairly baseless, not supported by anything overly factual, and are usually about events / circumstances that are very indirectly linked backed to the responsibility of the CEO position.

Most of these negative things conclude with the brilliant idea of sacking CS. It's the easy solution, the one that does not require any further thinking to resolve issues at hand.

If the club and it's board members decide they don't want CS to continue, then he has obviously not performed to the standard expected and required of him. Until then, I'll refrain from posting that this man needs to lose his job.

[Weedster 174]

no problem with this - club has come from an untenable position financially to having top of the range facilities, no debt and are now in a position to pump money into the footy dept.

players may not like him because he sticks to a budget and sometimes doesnt put money into footy (in the past) but thats better than not having a club (see rangers fc)

I agree - a great reappointment - we need some stability after the year from hell - reading some of the posts here astounds me - get rid of the coach, get rtd of the CEO, sack half of the players - FFS get some perspective - rebuilds take time and a steady hand, not wholesale changes at every turn.

[praha 11,240]

Schwab is grossly, unfairly underrated.

He managed to get two new sponsors after the season had started and after a very negative media response as to the club's issues. He has done very well in arguably one of the club's worst years in its history.

Also remember that when he came here Melbourne "had no brand". Crowds are up - 18,000 against the Suns isn't great but 2-3,000 up on what we would have gotten 2-3 years ago against a small-drawing team - and he has set Melbourne up to have a strong presence IF it gets up and running on the field. There have been some great fan initiatives since he arrived, and the creation of the Melbourne Business Community is going to help us snag some high profile free agents. He acknowledged the high income earning support base and took advantage, something the club should have done decades ago.

It's not his fault entirely that the club sucks on field. He has a vision and for the most part it has worked: he was part of a group that saved this club from its off-field issues.

More than deserving of a new contract.

[Range Rover 1,935]

I agree with most of this but you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you start looking for a replacement don't expect Schwab to stay on if we can't find anyone better.

With the right people at the top, these things can be done discreetly and then acted on decisively (like Essendon did with Robson).

[Biffen 12,946]

CS comes from a long family pedigree in AFL football administration.

His first stanza at MFC was marked by a falling out with the then President, Gutnick. (Its not hard to do). CS inherited a shambolic contract management arrangement when he joined MFC. His biggest fault was not cleaning it up. And Gutnick publicly sacrificed him to the AFL for his own ends.

Schwab then went to Freo where off field Schwab turned a financial struggler into a strong and profitable sporting organisation.

While tarnishing his profile at MFC, Schwab was rated highly as an AFL football administrator by the AFL. Together with Stynes, the AFL "encouraged" Schwab to take on the difficult task of running MFC in 2008.

IMO, Schwab's time at MFC has been a mixed bag and his relationship with the Board was been variable over the journey. I suspect there are still scars from the Board being prepared to have sacrificed Schwab before 186.

I am not sure if Schwab is the right choice going forward but I cant see MFC attracting any other capable executive to potentially destroy their career at this Club. I have no confidence that the Board will make the right decision anyway.

I'm sure he has made mistakes before but he seems to have learnt from them .His latest stint at Melbourne has been good for us financially thus far.Some players may feel threatened by him but I think he has done well in a terrible year .As for accepting Energy Watch money-so what?How can we control every corporate loonies that wants to give us cash.The Executive decision to cut ties with them was swift and exemplary action.

[Deeoldfart 8,061]

It's great to read a few posts that are based on facts instead of speculation, heresay and innuendo. Thanks Ben (post #39,It's Time (post #43), Wheels (coincendentally post #45) and Cudi (post #47).