Dr. Gonzo

So one minute he threatens to steal our sponsors (what sponsors? Hahaha) and the next he is offering his charity? F&%^ off Eddie.

Whyw ould he care though? He gets to save "millions" of dollars (assuming he was ever going to front up the cash anyway) and has already gained publicity/notoriety out of the relationship (he seems to be the type of moron who thinks any publicity is good publicity going by his comments). For those arguing "pragmatism" (Lordweaver et al) how can you seriously suggest keeping this guy on after the disgusting comments he made not just in general but about one of our very own players. How do you think Jurrah (in particular), Davey, Bennell, Jetta & Lawrence would feel if we fronted the players and said "we're keeping him on because we need the money". Won't happen.

Wouldnt be a huge loss we need to get rid of one of him or Martin anyway I think. We still have Martin Clark & Gawn if he goes. I like Russian but he's had one awesome year and about 8 average ones.

The MFC can't keep this mob on imagine what the indigenous guys would be thinking if we did.

FMD what the hell? Is there no end to this clubs woes? This guy Polis what an absolute moron. How could you make comments like those and not think it's going to affect your reputation as a businessman? Idiot of the highest order. This club is in deep crap and all the work done by Jimmy & the MFC over the last 3 years could be undone. Losing $2m/year is no loose change particularly when we STILL have no other major sponsor to fall back on. I have serious concerns for the ongoing viability of this club if we lose Energy Watch's money and cannot sign a second major sponsor. It's beginning to feel like 2008 all over again.

No thats the second last thing they want. The last thing they want is to have their access revoked by the AFL.

That makes no sense to me? Are you saying the AFL encouraged him to leak this to the media rather than take it up with the club through the correct channels? If so why would Anderson call Schwab and tell him he needs to speak to Mifsud? Why didn't Mifsud just call Schwab anyway? That assertion doesn't hold with me - I just think they are protecting him because he is a favoured son with mates in the right places who has been ear-marked for a future leadership position. The AFL is also trying to deflect and keep their nose clean by shifting blame onto other parties (Thomas & MFC/Davey).

Whether he embellished or was lied to is irrelevant. The fact is he breached a players privacy by running to the media (Caro, Smith & Thomas) instead of addressing the issue through the appropriate channels. The club was made aware of the allegations and attemtped to contact him and he refused to return the call. This is why he must be sacked he has breached confidence and privacy.

Do we want favourable treatment and forever reliant on the AFL? Or do we want to grow a backbone and stand on our own two feet?

Exactly the AFL deflected all this back on to the MFC and Thomas - Thomas is an idiot but he knew what he was doing. Mifsud has been described this morning as a "rising star" in the AFL - the guy has proven to be a dishonest worm not just over this issue but several recent issues and must be banished from the organisation. There are comments on BF stating that Mifsud is very good mates with Ali Fahour - Fahour's brother Ahmed is CEO & Managing Director of Australia Post (an AFL partner Partner who just a couple of weeks ago announced a joint multicultural ambassador program) & former ceo of NAB. The story here is not about the MFC - the story is about an AFL employee who at the very least breached the privacy of a player by going to the media and at the most completely altered the story to suit his own agenda. Either way he can no longer be trusted by the players and clubs and his position within the organisation is untenable. Not only that but Vlad is now condoning his actions with a slap on the wrist because he is a protected species with mates in high places who has been ear-marked for a future governing role within the AFL. The whole think is more corrupt than the ALP.

Yeah no surprises here but when will the clubs stand up to Vlad and his cronies? The club can't let up on this one - Neeld can get on with his job of coaching the players leave him out of it, but McLardy and Schwab need to be unrelenting and hold the AFL to task. If we get in their bad books and end up with the fixture from hell next year, so be it it will just further demonstrate the corrupt nature of the organisation.

Well according to the Hun Anderson called Schwab and said something has come up in a meeting about the MFC you need to speak to Mifsud. Schwab tried calling him but received no answer. Mifsud refused to return his calls and instead went to (at the very least) Wilson, Smith & Thomas. Who is this clown Mifsud and how can the AFL sit there with a straight face and lecture others on integrity and bringing the game into disrepute and not march this guy out the door? Where is the accountability in the AFL? The whole organisation is an absolutely corrupt joke on so many levels and I for one am sick and tired of it.

Don't know if it will blight the club because I think the whole footy world realises Mifsud & Demetriou are in the wrong here. I agree he can't keep his job though.

Back to the topic - will be interesting to see what follow up, if any, there is from the MFC on this. We shouldn't just let this slide, we should force the issue and let it be known that we don't take too kindly to our coach and players (Davey in this case) being slandered by rumour, innuendo or inference. On top of this we should force the issue regarding Mifsud's role - if he felt there were problems with how MFC/Neeld were conducting ourselves surely the right thing to do as a Community Engagement Officer would be to call a meeting with the club and discuss it or at least make a phone call instead of leaking to the tabloid reporters to wage his war through the media. How can the AFL expect the clubs to take their employees seriously if they let rubbish like this go unpunished?

Yep Davey has been slurred as much as Neeld by this whole shemozzle. Nothing like a quiet week to get the boys focussed on the enxt game hey? Wonder what that feels like.

Yep - Mifsud burns Rendell in an article in which he basically lies (quotes him out of context) - Andy D forces the Crows hand and tells them to sack Rendell - Thomas is told some more "untruths" by Mifsud and publishes the comments at an opportune time to out Mifsud over the Rendell issue - Andy D clues on to what has happened and gets Rendell a job before Mifsud admits to feeding Thomas the Neeld rumour - Mifsud offers his resignation but Andy D refuses to accept it to save his own face over forcing Adelaide to sack Rendell

How can the AFL/Demetriou expect people to take them seriously if Mifsud remains as an AFL employee? Doesn't the AFL have an "integrity" office? Surely they should be investigating this. We should demand some explanations and Mifsud's head on a platter. I hate to always refer back to the other mob, but can you imagine the fallout if this was said/reported about Malthouse or Buckley at the Pies? Eddie would be on a crusade. Stand your ground Demons and let the AFL know we won't be the whipping boy anymore. If this means we are on the outer with the Fat Controller and his mob so be it. Our integrity is more important than the AFL's corruption.

LOL how many senior indigenous players do we have? Pretty short list.

OK speculation/conspiracy time; Thomas knew that Rendell was unfairly maligned and sacked based on some allegations by Mifsud which were not entirely true. He knows that this guy is spreading further untrue or not quite true rumours and decides to go and put them into print to bring the issue to a head and somewhat vindicate Rendell. He kills two birds with one stone by being able to have a crack at Neeld who for whatever reason he seems to have an issue with as shown in the rest of his column. Neeld and MFC are a particularly easy target after the weekend so he picks his target and lets loose. EDIT: on further reading it seems Thomas and Mifsud have a relationship going back to St. Kilda days (along with Rendell) so it looks like Thomas really is just an idiot.

Just posted this on BF; I get a feeling part of the reaction is that everyone in the football community wanted us to win on the weekend and we let them all down - so now they are responding in the same manner as a lot of our fans by spitting the dummy over the players/coaches performance because they didn't get the result they wanted. As supporters we have every right to react emotionally immediately following the game, but I think this is also a test of our resolve - we need to actually SUPPORT the club and the coach by backing them to the hilt and continuing to turn up to games all year. In football all you have is your club, players, coaches and supporters - all other tribes (including the media and those in it who have their own club allegiances) are the enemy and they can go and get stuffed as far as I'm concerned. Neeld has coached ONE GAME - I'm prepared to give him and the players a little more time before the knives come out. Midway through this year we will know which players have bought in to the new coaching structures and midway through next year we will have a better idea of where we sit with the new coach/FD.

Aren't Mahoney, Viney & Royal the only ones left?

Yeah the observation about Melbourne being historically an attacking team and Neeld trying to implement a defensive side to us was spot on and will be difficult to change the mindset overnight. Look at the couple of clips they showed (and Neeld said these were picked up by the assistant coaches and shown in the review with the players) our players run with the opposition but get sucked towards the ball allowing their player to run free. Same with guys like Davey hanging 20 metres off their opponent in the hope that a turnover may allow them to run forward of the ball - but often it just means their opponent gets an easy uncontested possession. You could see Neeld was clearly agitated at these clips and he has his job ahead of him to change the mindset of the players (one of the examples shown was of Bartram who is supposedly a shutdown player).

May have changed his opinion after making those comments in the heat of the moment with the anger from the result still palpable and realising there is limited options to bring in to replace the under performers. Seemed to me he regretted making that comment as seen by his deflection about not being able to make comments about selection prior to channel 7.

I don't really see the relevance to what I posted?