Our list and our position overall, is much worse than it was when Neeld was appointed so he had to go. I have no issue with the way we did it, it was a commercial issue and I'd rather see his ego bruised than the MFC sink any further in to oblivion.

The previous Board had no idea themselves how to even begin to look for a replacement for Bailey and they simply abrogated their responsibility and passed it on to G Lyon who made a choice in haste which we are all now paying for.

Yes, we probably have destroyed Mark's career, but from the results we've seen so far it was inevitable; he's been found out as incapable of taking the extra step and either should have stayed as an understudy or accepted he took a step too far.

Wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard this over the past few years...

I think it could be re-worded "the AFL is sick of putting up with our crap".

very astute observation.

Peter Jackson knows more about AFL success than anyone at Melbourne. I will take his judgement all the way. Also no one takes a job on if they are not willing to live with the worst case scenario. I predict Neeld will be an assistant again very soon and that is where he is suited.

I for one am now happy our club is not accepting crap any more.

dont you mean the afl made the move on this on going saga,more heads will roll more than likely with craig he was the director of coaching

I for one am now happy our club is not accepting crap any more.

Yeaah. We took it up the blurter for 18 months but now we have had enough. A pox on you Neeld...... :0

hopeless club - now we have Craig as coach - that guy couldn't inspire a log of wood.

Premiership coach with Adelaide. Must have something going for him.

Premiership coach with Adelaide. Must have something going for him.

Can't remember what premiership he coached. Please enlighten me...

Yep. The fact is that we've fired our last two coaches for simply doing what they were told. Disgraceful!

I wonder how the players will respond now. According to tv reports the players were training with renewed energy.

I wonder how the players will respond now. According to tv reports the players were training with renewed energy.

Decisions like this have a great shock value. We will find out how many players had truly got on the reality bus over the next 3 months

I'm furious at the whole club. Disgraceful performance for the past 6 years.

Please MFC, just let me go to the footy thinking that we might have a shot at winning this.

I'm sick of being mocked, pitied, and all the cheap shots.

Bring back the passion, fire and stick it up em.

Agree

Yep. The fact is that we've fired our last two coaches for simply doing what they were told. Disgraceful!

Did we ask Bailey to lose a game by 186 points?

Did we ask Neeld to start with a midfield made up of two inside mids (and pretty much only that), get rid of one of those mids rightly or wrongly and then start the season with one experienced inside mid and three debutants?

perhaps the players played continually coach killer intensity - but that is another issue. Neeld came in hard and that was requested. But the players couldn't handle it rightly or wrongly it appears.

Make no mistake - Mark Neeld was told to come in and put a rocket up every single senior player. He was given unprecedented scope to do it his way and change the festering wound that is the MFC. Then, he cops it and has his career destroyed based on doing nothing more than executing his plan. Yes, it may have been a flawed execution, but he was given 3 years to do it because it was, and is, the hardest task in football. He didn't get the chance because everyone got spooked.

Make no mistake - Bailey was told to lose. Then, when it suited, the administration turfed him too for not winning enough.

I thought I told them both to just WIN!

Do you not think his relationship with the players played some part in his downfall? If so that would have been of his making.

I do feel sorry for him though as he faced obstacles no other Coach ever has.

I do think his relationship was absolutely divisive and played a part in his downfall. You find a good coach that doesn't have his detractors. I know of players at most clubs, and the views on coaches differs vastly.

The senior players, who were taking us precisely nowhere, except Junior (who we sacked), were setting low standards and getting away with it. The club in every way is at its lowest ebb.

The reality is, if Neeld was Malthouse or another senior coach, we would be lauding him for his judgement in churning the bad culture and trying to build. We would be calling for more time. We would be understanding our performance in the context of the list (in particular the midfield) being in disarray. We would understand that the coach was embroiled in a shocking tanking scandal and was left with a bunch of kids to set standards.

This club gave an untried but highly regarded coach a job that required strength of corporate leadership and vision. We lacked both.

In short, Neeld may have been a problem. But in the scheme of things, he is not even close to the problem.

My over-riding feeling is disgust.

The OP is right. And those that say Neeld had to go are right too.

A cacophony of failures and ill-fate of the last 6 years has been bubbling away while the environment of the list has revealed itself to be much worse on reflection than even the most pessimistic person thought.

Frankly, the way we have been bickering the toss over which Board, and which Coach, and which Recruiter is responsible for our downfall misses the obvious organisation-wide anemia that has plagued us for a while.

Did it begin with Neeld circa Moloney/Rivers?

Did it begin with The Tanking Saga (see Schwab/CC)?

Did it begin with the unabashed youth policy (Bailey 2008)?

Did it begin with Daniher chasing a flag (Pickett, Moorcroft, Holland)?

I am not sure, but I am certain that it is irrelevant.

The way forward is to try and make decisions, from now on in, with the best interests of the culture of a club that is proud of those decisions. Draft Terlich. Get Hogan. Secure Viney. Trust Jackson & the AFL. Own the Neeld decision.

Keep making those decisions.

Do you not think his relationship with the players played some part in his downfall? If so that would have been of his making.

I do feel sorry for him though as he faced obstacles no other Coach ever has.

There were players in tears at that presser. They wanted him to stay, make no mistake about that. The supposed rift between coach and players was nothing more than a media ghost used to stir up more trouble for the club.

I wonder how the players will respond now. According to tv reports the players were training with renewed energy.

Again, media self-justification. They were never going to report that the playing group were dispirited and flat after having the carpet pulled out from under them yet again.

At least this time the person responsible, CS went first and the coach last.

I am furious.

We are an unprofessional bunch of mugs. But it's worse than that. Our club sells fraudulent hope, and ruins the careers of perfectly good and competent people, whether they be players or coaches.

Make no mistake - Mark Neeld was told to come in and put a rocket up every single senior player. He was given unprecedented scope to do it his way and change the festering wound that is the MFC. Then, he cops it and has his career destroyed based on doing nothing more than executing his plan. Yes, it may have been a flawed execution, but he was given 3 years to do it because it was, and is, the hardest task in football. He didn't get the chance because everyone got spooked.

Make no mistake - Bailey was told to lose. Then, when it suited, the administration turfed him too for not winning enough.

When I think of all the money donated, all the functions where bulltish was spouted out of the mouths of these people. All the suspicions about disharmony, lack of professionalism were dismissed.... yet, it was almost all true.

I get that almost all those involved in the above issues are going, going and gone from the club. But the lack of spine and the level of incompetence and dishonesty is literally breathtaking.

Rant over.

McLardy stepped down. It was his board that appointed Neeld. He fell on his sword. Jackson handed Neeld his marching orders and rightly so.

Neeld may have been given carte blanche by the board and administration, but that doesn't mean the only way of handling the situation was to belittle or deal with players in a manner unbecoming. This backfired, resulting in a potential lack of "buy in" from them in turn.

Neeld's appointment was a mistake. They should have appointed an experienced coach, just as they must this time around. However, this time must start with us conducting a thorough canvass or at least approaching our top candidates directly and unequivocally. Throw the kitchen sink at the right man. We have the AFL's support and Jackson will make all the important decisions.

It's Jackson's carte blanche that I care about now. Get behind him. He is experienced and knows what a functioning football club looks like. The aim is a healthy Melbourne Football Club. We all want the same thing here. Whilst its dangerous to put our faith in one person (we love doing that at Melbourne), for the moment I trust with the AFL's backing, Jackson will right the wrong of his predecessors.

The thing that every has to remember is that essentially the same playing group has now been through 4 Senior Coaches.

I remember when Viney was interim coach, everyone was saying that at least the players will be playing, tough accountable football, well it didn't happen then and I have a feeling that it will not easily happen with any future coach. This player group is rotten to the core, once again they threaten the club (e.g: we will leave) if you don't sack the coach. They have too much influence in the operation of the club, if I disagreed with the way my boss did things, I may loath it privately, but in the workplace I would get on with the job, because I'm an adult and I am getting paid to do the said job. Honestly.....

The most stupid thing is, most of the posters that where calling for neelds head are the same people backing neeld's hardnose aproch ap( to player like molony, and others. Personally I think that molony should have been made captain

I do think his relationship was absolutely divisive and played a part in his downfall. You find a good coach that doesn't have his detractors. I know of players at most clubs, and the views on coaches differs vastly.

The senior players, who were taking us precisely nowhere, except Junior (who we sacked), were setting low standards and getting away with it. The club in every way is at its lowest ebb.

The reality is, if Neeld was Malthouse or another senior coach, we would be lauding him for his judgement in churning the bad culture and trying to build. We would be calling for more time. We would be understanding our performance in the context of the list (in particular the midfield) being in disarray. We would understand that the coach was embroiled in a shocking tanking scandal and was left with a bunch of kids to set standards.

This club gave an untried but highly regarded coach a job that required strength of corporate leadership and vision. We lacked both.

In short, Neeld may have been a problem. But in the scheme of things, he is not even close to the problem.

My over-riding feeling is disgust.

The guy couldn't coach he was destroying the club he had to go. He rid the club of experienced players and replaced them with duds, he claimed this list as his own and it's a mess. He hand picked the assistants including some that had experience in minor competitions only and none of them seem to have risen to the task.

We are the worst team in the AFL, we are constantly beaten by 70 plus points we are a laughing stock and getting worse not better. He didn't see the 79 point loss to Port coming he didn't have an answer for any of the losses and you think we treated him badly; are you serious?

What would you have done; kept him on until the last supporter walked away? Sure we made a mistake in appointing him but he knew what he was getting in to and it was simply too big for him. We gave him everything he asked for and he gave us nothing in return, except humiliation.

spot on choko

I feel sick, that we have destroyed the Coaching career of a very good person, who was bright eyed & bushy tailed about the Job ahead, & the Took On the biggest challenge in footy...

the problem largely was timing... If he came in to rebuild this Club from the bootlaces up in 2007, he would have been given 3 Yrs, But after we've already endured 4 Yrs of Sacrificial Pain, the people just didn't have any more patience left, & with the angst of the list prune, it was just too much.

we got rid of most of this crapp Culture under Barassi & Ray Jordan,,, 85% to 95% of it was fixed... it lasted us 10 great years, thru the Northey era, & early Balme...

... we Need the AFL now,,, to take charge of this, and guarantee a Topline Coach his tenure, to get to the Nitty Griity of this rubbish Culture...

.

To be honest dee-luded the formatting of your posts are starting to make me feel a bit sick - ease up on the italics!

By the look of it schwab wanted the rocket up the senior players after there attempt to oust him... He gave mark neeld that agenda to rocket the senior players and the history turned the players against him...

The most stupid thing is, most of the posters that where calling for neelds head are the same people backing neeld's hardnose aproch ap( to player like molony, and others. Personally I think that molony should have been made captain

Moloney is one move Neeld appears to have got right. We'll never know what went on behind closed doors though. His approach on the whole seems to have been too brash. Once again, we can only ever know by watching the effort on the field and at no point (except Round 10 v Essendon 2012) was our effort AFL standard.

By the look of it schwab wanted the rocket up the senior players after there attempt to oust him... He gave mark neeld that agenda to rocket the senior players and the history turned the players against him...

That would make some sense, considering Neeld seemed to ease his hard nosed approach a fraction post Schwab "stepping down".