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Thought it was amusing lol. Hoping and praying that P.J and the new board can make it happen! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=542561665785747&set=a.165766316798619.29951.130498966992021&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

Must have been horrible, watching robots win games regularly.

And a lot of good priority picks have done us in the past. Ever heard of development of what you've got?

Not long ago the "experts" and the "naysayers" were also saying that nobody would want to take the CEO's job and suddenly Peter Jackson emerged with enthusiasm about "taking on the challenge". The same will happen with the coach's job for precisely the same reason. It will be well paid and a challenge that those who are brave enough will dare to take on. As far as Roos is concerned however, the issue is not so much one of taking on the challenge but rather, the wife and family. Heard she's not keen on a move to Melbourne (the city) for personal reasons and that she will therefore prevail. The scenario should make for some interesting but contrived discussion on On the Couch in the coming months.

He was dignified. But my god he is stubborn. To never admit a fault when you were so clearly not coaching victorious sides, is baffling. However, it is his exit and he can choose to handle it any way he likes. I give him credit for sticking up for the club and we will always owe him Clark-Dawes-Hogan.

Key word is "Assistant".

Classic Demonland. Now posters will argue for 3 months over other posters opinions as to who should coach us. I'm the first to say I have no frigging idea. If Roos wants to do it for the right reasons then I can't be disappointed with someone who has the capacity to change the culture and unite the club.

I know it seems a trivial thing to some, but I'm wondering if a few of us here could put our heads together to send a few new emblem ideas to the MFC? With a whole new approach and image needed, the emblem is a big part of it, and to me the current one is a bit spiritless and directionless like our club has been. I'm not trying to start a thread on thoughts on the current one, it's been discussed a bit, but more wanting to start a thread for any creatives on here to throw some ideas around and do something productive for the club we love. More of an ideas thread rather than a MFC bashing thread. I'll get the ball rolling with a quickie from last night while up with a 3 week old...

I like our current emblem. Not everything Schwab did was bad. Our current emblem was the work of Stynes as much as Schwab.

Jackson and the AFL are helping us to assemble our Board. I trust their ideas on that more than the will of Demonland. No offence everybody.

Paul Roos: "Look, I will take the call" "My mindset is, it would want to be a significant change..to where I am at the moment" In other words, whilst he's said he's not interested and happy in the media. Money still talks. The AFL recognise the club has a cultural problem, that players and player managers are expressing interest in other clubs. The AFL recognise the club has gone cap in hand with PJ expressing the details of the situation. Drastic measures = drastic action. The AFL has a history of going for the right man to get the job done. I wouldn't rule Roos out, as you have.

I think the fact now that PJ is in place, DM stepped down and more board members to follow, are main reasons why these coaches are now considering it. The AFL have stepped in, so they know they'll have their support as well.

I'd like to see Wellman return as the backline coach too. Not that that will happen obviously ...

Vitriol towards Garry is pretty unbelievable. I bet the people, hindsight merchants as Lyon called them, who are condemning him for picking Neeld were the ones getting all excited when he came in and appointed the new panel. Garry admitted on the show that he was disappointed the decision he helped make didn't pan out, and said to the Melbourne supporters not to worry he'll stay out. Pretty disgusted in this, that a former champion of our club, the centrepiece of the ****** banner for gods sake gets slandered like this for trying to help the club. He'd be hurting as much as any of us would over the past few years.

The biggest mistake that was made is that Neeld was tasked with all of the above and he was an inexperienced coach. To give a 'never-been-a-senior-coach' virtual carte Blanche to achieve this when he's had no training in people management in these circumstances has been the most telling aspect of all. This is the reason why there will be a seasoned, successful and very well respected coach at the MFC next year. Anything less will be another failure.

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.

I'm no graphic designer, but I love this shot of Neita.

Don't see anything wrong with our current emblem and think we have far bigger issues at the club to worry about!

that is awesome 1000 times better than the current garbage emblem that clown Cameron Schwab thought up

Thank God Mckenzie has not injured his leg I would hate to see his kicking style affected.

if we land Roos we will smash through 40,000 members by round 1 surely Whatever we pay Roos we will get our money back and then some from memberships alone, not to mention the crowds we will pull if/when we start winning under him

It isn't up to the new coach - hence the new structure. The only people who should report to the coach, and therefore be appointed by the coach, are the assistant coaches. As for Mahoney, I think it's up to Jackson. I expect he will either become the head of FD, or he'll be redundant.

The guy can recruit. The guy cannot coach,

I'd take the season not being over at 1/2 time of round 1.

Probablyey.

I just want to take a quick swipe at those on this forum who abused and questioned my honesty and integrity in the "Time to go Mark Neeld" thread. I note that the main reason given by Peter Jackson for the sacking of Neeld was the need to retain our players and show them that Melbourne FC was a place they could have a successful career. He essentially said MN had lost the players. I was given plenty by many on here when I said that this was the case and a walk out of players was on the cards come seasons end. I even said where I had heard it, a current player manager, and from feedback directly from players. I said it was not rumour and even mentioned players names. Yet still I received abuse and accusations of lying, and scaremongering from many. Let me make one thing clear, if it is rumour, I say its rumour, if it is a fact I say it is fact putting my reputation on the line. I feel somewhat vindicated. Now what I am about to say I have also said before. My understanding is that we are much closer to getting Roos than is being admitted. There have already been many communications prior to yesterdays sacking. Obviously Ross could only deny while we had another coach. Roos is very seriously considering a move to the Dees. The book makers have Roos at $5. At these levels this is an outstanding bet. The clubs view is closer to even money.

Reminds me of James Hird's wishy-washy statements in 2010. Hird: "I won't be coaching in the next three to five years, and that might mean I never do." "I understand the speculation has been destabilising for both (coach) Matthew Knights and the club, and I want to put that to bed," "Being Essendon coach has a romantic ring to it -- the Essendon Football Club has always been a big part of my life -- but I now understand what a destabilising effect the comments can have on the club. I would love to be involved with Essendon to support the president David Evans, who is doing a great job, but that won't be as the senior coach." "I said in the story yesterday I wasn't thinking of doing the job at the moment, even if it became available." "I just answered a question honestly and from the heart. I did say, 'Not yet' and, on reflection, it's even further away now and will probably never happen." "I know I'm further away from coaching now than what I was on Monday night (when he was quizzed on On The Couch). I know that." Roos: "Look, I will take a call," "I am happy to talk if they want me to talk now that Neeld has gone. "I don't have a problem with that. My mindset is it would want to be a significant change ... to where I am at the moment." "The thought of coaching Melbourne doesn't scare me, not the club itself or any other club," he said. "In some ways it's the great coaching challenge, but you have got to be thinking like a coach to take it on if you are going to do that role." Like Hird in 2010, I find Roos' statements to be equivocal, neither here-nor-there, and incapable of leading to conclusions one way or the other. If anything, Roos' comments are even more equivocal than Hird's were. Hird made those statements just months before signing.

In fairness, it'd actually be pretty hard to pull that off.

Hang on, so I say that Royal should go, and then you say that I 'don't have the understanding'... and then you explain that Royal will be axed by the new coach. How come you can judge Neeld on performance and not Royal? Is Royal not accountable for the development of young midfielders? We've had talent come through but they haven't come on, clearly has something to do with what they are being taught or told.

Sooooo more chance of getting a contracted coach shooting for a premiership whose agent has said "no way", than a former coach working part time in the media who seems open to it? Hmmmmmm......

It's been a rough 7 years. Let that dancing banana have some joy dammit!

You speak for the majority of supporters now? I don't think so, for the simple reason that I speak for the majority of the supporters and say that we had not lost faith and felt that the short-term pain would be worth it in the long run. As the voice of the majority I feel obligated to tell you that while we had not lost faith in the coach we have now most certainly lost faith in the administration of the club.

Roos was not going to say he's interested in the Coaches role at the MFC while Neeld was still in charge. Neeld gets the sack and Roos opens up a little. The beauty about Paul Roos is that he's not contracted at another club in any coaching capacity. In theory, he could be announced as the senior coach well before the seasons over with Craig remaining as interim until the end of the H&A season. He could begin to immerse himself in the club and become familiar with the list without directly making any decisions. Imagine the excitement a scenario like that would offer? The borderline members/supporters will come back in droves. On the other hand, you have Clarkson, Eade and Williams tied up with teams that will most likely play deep into September so any external noise about coaching the MFC could be detrimental unless they are released immediately to start before the seasons over which is highly unlikely. Im almost convinced that this is all part of the charade that will see Roos at the Dees for 2014.

Lol... to think RR was once a moderator.

There is some truth to this as it wasn't moneyball. Those using the term moneyball to describe what we did don't really understand the concept, but they do love the catchy term

A confirmed rumour, directly from a current board member, and confirmed via a current player/coach manager. This person does not look after Roos but is connected into the Roos camp. I said this was the case about 2 months ago.

We need to ask the question of him, and Clarkson for that matter, but there is a limit to how much arm-twisting that we should do. St Kilda convinced a very comfortable Malcolm Blight to be their saviour and it wasn't right - his head was retired long before. I know Roos isn't playing golf (and driving a golf cart selling drinks!) in Palm Cove but he is comfortable. If he hasn't come around after a couple of meetings and our sign of intent - move on. Mark Williams isn't perfect but he would be a very good fallback option - a proven coach that can instill some confidence in the club and players.

You know I feel that this was the big mistake as well. I feel a lot of the players would've seen Neeld come in and say who is this guy to tell us the club culture is no good. If you get Paul Roos, Ross Lyon, Clarko, Choco etc coming in and saying the same thing and do sweeping changes the would fall into line because they know that they've got the runs on the board. I'm not ecstatic about Neeld getting the chop, in fact I would've preferred them to give him until the end of the year with an ongoing review, but what's done is done and I can't see anything less than an experienced coach getting us back on track. The only positive for me on this was that the board was able to keep the decision under wraps for the whole weekend, must be a new MFC record.

Maybe that's it. The development and direction. But give us a decent midfield and we'd make up significant ground.

Olivia Munn + Paul Roos gives me a tingly feeling :D

Wrong thread.Please go to the No T$ No BS thread. The dancing banana rightfully belongs there.

If Neeld were Malthouse, I doubt that he would have been sacked because the team would have performed better. Contrary to what has been expressed by some above, Neeld was not sacked because he carried out the job description that he was given. Nor did Bailey get the sack because he did what he was told and managed his team to less than five wins in 2009. He was sacked two years later because he had serious limitations as a coach. Neeld went because his match day tactics and strategies were complete fails and, in particular, he lacked the flexibility to adapt his game plan to affect the ebb and flow of a game. On the other hand, his old mentor Malthouse is savvy enough to understand the destructive nature of morale sapping blowout defeats and is prepared therefore to ring in changes during a game to turn things around. An example was the round 1 game against Richmond. Carlton trailled by 38 points at half time when Malthouse reorganised his team, went man on man and nearly pulled the game out of the fire. He said after the game that although he compromised his game plan, he would still revert to a more defensive style in the following round. With the exception of the GWS game when the Giants completely lost their run and folded after ¾ time, I saw little signs from Neeld of his capacity to make game changing moves when necessary. Ultimately, both Bailey and Neeld went, mainly because they were not good coaches. I hope now its going to be a case of third time lucky but this playing group is definitely going to need a seasoned, experienced coach who know what he's doing.

Hate him on TV, love to have him in the coaches box. Interesting to hear Eade say he would consider the job and I would be surprised if Mark Williams wasn't interested. Not long ago the "experts" on radio were saying "who would even want to coach Melbourne?"

More likely PJ needed confirmation that there was funds available to pay Neeld and other to be named out of their contracts. Money has to come from somewhere...

We will get Roos, I'll back it for sure now. We (afl) will give him whatever he needs to make it work.

No, Bailey dumped us right into the tanking saga.

[censored] off, Gary. Said that G Healy is the best man to appoint the next coach with Jackson. You mean the guy that helped you appoint Bailey? Lyon's decision making is abhorrent. I'm glad he won't have anything to do with it. Also, the way he avoided a combative, but at the same time honest question from Wilson. She asked whether Lyon had done due diligence in the search for the last candidate. No, you didn't Gary. If you want something you have to really want it. To use an old adage, 'no stone left unturned'. Don't let him near any decision making again. Sprout support or criticism from the media, but don't go inside the club, you've no idea.

A sensational interview. Neeld has class. He could have dumped on the club. He didn't.

Yawn

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".