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Mark Neeld

John Crow Batty
John Crow Batty
in Melbourne Demons

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Shows the problems of appointing an untried coach. We were his lab experiment.

Hopefully the current coach doesn't repeat the exercise

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    The article is, like his coaching, a bit incomplete. It says that Neeld "admitted that in hindsight he should have trusted his own judgment more when implementing the Demons' plan to rebuild once again" but doesn't explain if it wasn't his, whose judgment he did rely on. I suspect there's a fair bit of dissembling going on.

    I hope he can find a proper future. He's never going to be a senior coach again and he probably should never have been one, but I don't for one moment think that he wasn't trying to do his best when he was with us.

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    I think we’ve all moved on from this era but I find the following absolutely staggering:

    ”However Neeld conceded that in hindsight factors such age, experience, potential and future capabilities could have been included in the criteria upon which leaders were chosen.”

    He needed hindsight for this? Really?

    Anyhow, wish him all the best.

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    I feel sorry for Mark. He honestly had no idea what he was doing.

    The Club was in such a mess back then, i doubt they even asked him the right questions, we just needed a new coach....

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    Nothing wrong with what he said. Roos the following year did see some improvement but our last 10 games were as bad as anything under Neeld. We had a poor list and bad office, with Mr  Whiteboard Wednesday running the show it was always going to be a challenge.

    he also landed us Hogan.

    Edited by praha

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    28 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    whose judgment he did rely on.

    The people that went after Bailey...no names (you can work it out) were convinced the players were being molly coddled (probably some truth) and needed a bit of old fashioned discipline (overkill).

    Neeld in his haste and desire to pick up a senior gig was only too willing to sell the message they wanted then tried to carry it through.

    It was a rotten period in the clubs history and the blame should not be Neeld's alone. He was a symptom of what was wrong and very much the wrong choice by a club clutching at straws and wanting to hear what they wanted to hear.

    They had no idea.

    Thank goodness PJ came on board then Roos otherwise I don't know if we would have made it through...

    Edited by rjay

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    I can’t read this.

    Thank god the club has moved on, I’m going with them.

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    On 7/27/2018 at 4:15 PM, Diamond_Jim said:

    Shows the problems of appointing an untried coach. We were his lab experiment.

    Hopefully the current coach doesn't repeat the exercise

    He was also our lab experiment. Idiotic on all sides. The past is the past though (thank god) so we'll just keep on moving.

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    1 hour ago, rjay said:

    The people that went after Bailey...no names (you can work it out) were convinced the players were being molly coddled (probably some truth) and needed a bit of old fashioned discipline (overkill).

    Neeld in his haste and desire to pick up a senior gig was only too willing to sell the message they wanted then tried to carry it through.

    It was a rotten period in the clubs history and the blame should not be Neeld's alone. He was a symptom of what was wrong and very much the wrong choice by a club clutching at straws and wanting to hear what they wanted to hear.

    They had no idea.

    Thank goodness PJ came on board then Roos otherwise I don't know if we would have made it through...

    The people who appointed him as coach are more to blame than neeld.

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    I find the enlightens his desire to get a senior job he didn’t really look whether the club suited his style.  that is important as well, some coaches need to fit the  club culture too.  He know realises he should have waited for a club that was a better fit for him.  He was a disaster to us, but he was the face of it, not the whole problem.  

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    55 minutes ago, drysdale demon said:

    The people who appointed him as coach are more to blame than neeld.

    Or there could be equal blame?

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    27 minutes ago, drysdale demon said:

    The people who appointed him as coach are more to blame than neeld.

    Spot on. 

    People say we shouldn't have picked Neeld and history showed it was a debacle. 

    But really would a Ross Lyon, Mick Malthouse or Rocket Eade have wanted to come to us? With CS giving his sage advice about how the team should be tracking? With Gaz, Sugar and Cuddles not lurking far behind?

    Neeld for the job by telling Don, CS and Gaddy what they wanted to hear so they could pin their shortcomings on Bails. 

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    10 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

    Spot on. 

    People say we shouldn't have picked Neeld and history showed it was a debacle. 

    But really would a Ross Lyon, Mick Malthouse or Rocket Eade have wanted to come to us? With CS giving his sage advice about how the team should be tracking? With Gaz, Sugar and Cuddles not lurking far behind?

    Neeld for the job by telling Don, CS and Gaddy what they wanted to hear so they could pin their shortcomings on Bails. 

    Lyon, Malthouse and Eade. Freo, Carlton and GC must be happy with their contributions...not. I don’t think any of those guys would have done better than Neeld. They would have added their own spin on disaster. Too much air had to be cleared out from the top.

    Edited by america de cali

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    should have been a wake up call when malthouse sung his praises and mcchins feigned outrage

    Quote

    the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision

    n

     

     

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    One thing we can all agree on is that we should get him back in as an assistant coach and let him redeem himself and become a legend of the MFC.

     

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    3 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

    Would like Garry Lyon to write a follow up commenting upon Neeld's article

    really?    no thanks!

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    55 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

    Spot on. 

    People say we shouldn't have picked Neeld and history showed it was a debacle. 

    But really would a Ross Lyon, Mick Malthouse or Rocket Eade have wanted to come to us? With CS giving his sage advice about how the team should be tracking? With Gaz, Sugar and Cuddles not lurking far behind?

    Neeld for the job by telling Don, CS and Gaddy what they wanted to hear so they could pin their shortcomings on Bails. 

    And unfortunately as much as I loved the man, Jimmy’s decisions allowed it all to happen. He courted CS and signed off on Cuddles as Football Operations manager after he missed the coaching gig. So Bails started his job under a lot of pressure I would think, reporting to the guy he beat for the coaching position. 

    Post 186 Jimmy oversaw the sacking of Bails, rather than CS, huge mistake in retrospect. The way Bails was sacked still sticks in my guts. What was that about except as a reflection of CS exerting his power and hatred for a Coach who had worked out that the CEO was a big part of the problem in the club. 

    I think Jimmy’s problem was he only saw the best in people and that everyone meant well but working life is not always like that unfortunately. 

    CS prevailed and poor Neeld came in as the attack dog to carry out the retribution against the senior players. 

    There is one villain in this sad saga and it is not Neeld or Jimmy by the way. 

    Edited by Earl Hood

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    7 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

    And unfortunately as much as I loved the man, Jimmy’s decisions allowed it all to happen. He courted CS and signed off on Cuddles as Football Operations manager after he missed the coaching gig. So Bails started his job under a lot of pressure I would think, reporting to the guy he beat for the coaching position. 

    Post 186 Jimmy oversaw the sacking of Bails, rather than CS, huge mistake in retrospect. The way Bails was sacked still sticks in my guts. What was that about except as a reflection of CS exerting his power and hatred for a Coach who had worked out that the CEO was a big part of the problem in the club. 

    I think Jimmy’s problem was he only saw the best in people and that everyone meant well but working life is not always like that unfortunately. 

    CS prevailed and poor Neeld came in as the attack dog to carry out the retribution against the senior players. 

    There is one villain in this sad saga and it is not Neeld or Jimmy by the way. 

    Well said. I don’t blame Neeld for taking the job at all. 

    I have always wondered what Neil Craig actually did whilst at the MFC....apart from being paid. 

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    Y'know, I had an odd thought after reading this.

    Carlton is on one win, with percentage roughly on a par with our lowest ebb under Neeld. But there's something in the 'shape' of that percentage that struck me.

    In 2013, Melbourne suffered 7 massive losses - with margins of 148, 94, 90, 95, 83, 122, and 95.

    In 2018, Carlton have so far only experienced 2, maybe three such losses, depending on your line: 86, 109, and 72.

    And it isn't a case of Carlton's super-low scoring influence the percentage, as 2013 Demons only managed an extra 5 points per game.

    So, it would seem that Carlton are just stodgily losing by boringly substantial margins every single week.

    I'm genuinely curious, what does that mean?

    Impact of 'the great draft thinning' for the new teams back then? A genuinely more even competition now? Carlton being held together a little by their half-dozen excellent veterans? Or are the Demons the only club left that is capable of dishing out a proper walloping? :D

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