The bloody mess is our past 40years, our present and our future .Im just interested to know how you believe the past 3 days is going to have a positive effect.that is not rhetorical.

ok..

It has to be positive as it takes away any uncertainty over the position, we now know its vacant.

This has many flow on effects.

The football dept now knows there are winds of change about to blow through

The players will now know also that all best are off. That as part of the review they too are on the block,,,to be scrutinised for suitability etc.

The supporters now know that somethng proactive has taken place and that the MFC arent really in the busines any more of tolerating mediocre perrformances...by anyone.

Any building takes it cue from the preparation of the site. To put it bluntly some demolition has taken place. Th erubble wil lbe cleared by seasons end. Foundation go down immediately in the form of new personel. Building starts with the drafts .

The rest of football world know that MFC is no longer a club of complacency. Trauma has happened but he club is firm. when was the last time that happened at Melbourne ? ( almsot a trick question ) .

Its good from a timing position also. We have the jump on all other clubs re coaches now. surely thats good.

Further to the players position:... th ekids will know that barring death they will at least get a chance, maybe only one this season, but a chance at least. The counter to this is that teh seasoned and dare i say it some of the complacent ones will have to intepret this as writing on the wall for them too. perform or perish !!

The team will arise to a rude awakening....some will grasp that as a new opportunity, some will wilt and fall by the wayside. A healthy bush needs pruning. we can start earlier than most....again surely a positive.

Another positive...and its only my feelings here. We will see some very different playing over the next weeks; and thats got to be better than much of the crap so far this year .

I hope your right but still dont believe decorum and respect given to a passionate servant of the club is complacent.If it is we atleast can say we have never been complacent in the last forty years.I never believed daniher should be reappointed,in the end i was as harsh a critic as anyone but still he deserved some respect.You do seem to know the ins and outs of the club more than i so admit i may be wrong.

you seem to know what your talking about.

you seem to know what your talking about.

appearances can be deceptive...lol.. but cheers.

look..its a shame it had to happen to a nice bloke. To paraphrase one P.Keating..'its the redundancy we had to have !!"

Sorry one last dig.

Maybe I was premature in saying you knew what you were talking about.I now limit this to football for wasnt it "the recession we had to have"

i just think Gardner got carried away with our win against Collingwood.When asked wether robbo had the right to comment on the coach he said if you can kick 7 you have the right to say what you want.He also was positive with our younger players etc.One game later the coach is gone.I believe he was only being passionate as we all can but on impulse from a leader this breeds eraticism.

Daniher should not be there next year but a president should possess a certain amount of diplomacy that insures a long serving coach not leave mid year.It hampers the playing group just as it did when balme left.To me at Melbourne nothing is learned and nothing has changed.

Very valid observations!

Robbie Flower.

Jimmy Stynes.

Ron Barassi.

Steve Waugh?

Roger Federer?

So long as Connolly is kept at a distance and evetually some kind of consensus is reached I'm pretty comfortable with the process.

Oh and a final thought - let no-one who is in any way connected to the Carlton board get involved.

put it this way i hope healy and sheehan have nothing to do with the running of the mfc. healy, as go the biff put it, shouldnt be let in the front door. sheehan can barrack for who he wants to, but his job is to sell papers. his comments are crap and he rarely says a good word about us... i think lyon could be suitable in this type of role, but with his friendship with connolly i think there i s aocnflict of interest. i think the board should set up a sub committee, which may include members of the board and may include outside consultants to help choose the best coach, but it must be remembered that no one on this board has ever hired a new coach before, so they may need a little impartial help.

bjs, how would you have handled it?

What is the process you would have followed?

It was flagged that we would have a review. Should we have waited until after round 22 before conducting this?

In all, everything has been done with respect so that ND has left the club with his reputation intact. Look at all the articles which note how good he's been, rather than how he left. The fact is that people aren't really talking about how he left, which is what you are trying to achieve in such a situation.

So Axis of Bob do you still think it was handled with decorum.The captain is responding in much the same way i would expect most melbourne fans to react.

Typically weak Melbourne Board.Gardners subtlety was there for all discerning fans to see.we officially have a president whos respect within the halls of Melbourne is detrimental in capacity.From what i have observed he may have been wiser serving the club a little longer(look no further than the man he shafted) before asserting a poorly rehearsed and thought out initiative on us.

I wonder if he rewound the melbourne history in his head and pressed repeat.We needed a new coach NEXT YEAR.We now need a new president.

How can we trust a man to put into place initiatives to hire a coach when his processes in releasing one was so poor.

Thank god for daniher here .A lesser man would have tried to bring the club down with him.I have a feeling that when it is time for the boot to be on the other foot gardner will possess a far less philisophical approach.

Garry Lyon has abandoned Melbourne since he retired. He has done nothing for the club, is never down at the club and has basically disowned them. Since joining Television he has started to talk about them positively, but only because other commentators prodded him on the Melbourne link.

Sheahan - Does he really barrack for Melbourne?? Hmmmm, never knew that.

Garry Lyon has abandoned Melbourne since he retired. He has done nothing for the club,

Untrue.

Gary Lyon is exactly what you want in an ex player with a high media profile.He rarely gives into passion,speculation or conjecture .He could shoot off at the mouth and react to the ups and downs of a football club though he is far to pragmatic for this.He knows his influence and does not call on it.

Garry Lyon may not be showing signs of an impending coaching career ,however his diplomacy is something our president should not only admire but adhere to.

GARRY LYON for PRESIDENT

GL has never abandoned Melbourne.. he just knows what's what !!

Was listening to MMM yesterday when they replayed Neita's comments about "the process" Lyon said that he wasn't surprised as the players should always be loyal to the coach over the board. He mentioned that as Captain he had been very public in his support for Neil Balme after he got flicked mid-season. Sounds very much to me like Gazza's best use to the club might be as a board member. He understand's footy and footy clubs, unlike our present board which, correct me if I'm wrong, has little or no footy experience. As to who should decide on the new coach, it is interesting that a board can make a decision that the current coach might not be the right man for the job, but they employ a consultancy group to head hunt the short list of replacements. Maybe the consulants should have been consulted before the current coach was put in a no win situation. The irony is another club will probably employ the same consulants who will recommend that ND is the best man for the job!

Was listening to MMM yesterday when they replayed Neita's comments about "the process" Lyon said that he wasn't surprised as the players should always be loyal to the coach over the board. He mentioned that as Captain he had been very public in his support for Neil Balme after he got flicked mid-season. Sounds very much to me like Gazza's best use to the club might be as a board member. He understand's footy and footy clubs, unlike our present board which, correct me if I'm wrong, has little or no footy experience. As to who should decide on the new coach, it is interesting that a board can make a decision that the current coach might not be the right man for the job, but they employ a consultancy group to head hunt the short list of replacements. Maybe the consulants should have been consulted before the current coach was put in a no win situation. The irony is another club will probably employ the same consulants who will recommend that ND is the best man for the job!

great points .