Now firstly, I’m not sure who is generally in charge of these things but it would be great if we could do something.
Mark Thompson is a legend of the Essendon Football Club. 3 time premiership player, premiership captain and more importantly, took on the reigns of club coach in arguably this footy club’s darkest ever year.
There has been a lot of talk lately of how Bomber is no longer ‘in love with the club’ and how he ‘regrets coming back’. He feels screwed over by the club, and not the appreciated and it’s reallly sad to hear these sort of statements. Because of this, I feel like we as fans need to do something to thank him. We need to show him how much we appreciate his help the past couple of years. He may not be in love the club anymore, but I would hope that Bomber wouldn’t forget how much the fans are in love with Bomber.
It could take the form of the cards used for the #standbyhird and #backourboys games or perhaps one massive banner to be held up by the cheersquad/members when the players run out before a game that Bomber is commentating.
Ultimately it’s up to him.
Always has been.
He saved the club from being a basket case last year, no matter what anyone’s opinions of his coaching are (and mine are positive, fwiw), he did that and he deserves and has been given thanks.
But he knows we’d have him back, so…
I agree with Sean. I’m not comfortable with any sense that there might be bad blood between us and Bomber. Wim there’s nothing in your post I’d particularly argue with, but I still think we should do something more.
Look, I kind of agree.
I don’t know about on the fan side of things…I honestly don’t think that will help.
But with Harvey and Lloyd and Sheedy back…it sort of reinforces the idea that we have to look after our own. The club does need to repair its relationship with him.
It’s not good to have a Bartlett situation going on for a decade or two.
And when the stubborn old bugger says no, the club has to try again three months later.
And three months later.
And three months later.
I’ve always loved Bomber but he has been sending out a lot of mixed messages in recent times.
He said he didn’t get invited to the 30 year reunion and yet we had Ryan McKee come on here and state that the invite was sent to Bomber two months prior to the event.
Then he said that he had something else on that he couldn’t miss (I’m not sure if he revealed what that was).
Watching the clip on the club site where they talked to the likes of Frankie Dunnell, Gary Foulds and Paul Salmon, it appeared that those guys wouldn’t have missed the reunion for anything…and yet Bomber did.
Maybe he has a problem with the administration of the club but (imo) it seems to me that he is making his stand in the wrong way.
He will never again get the opportunity to attend that 30 year reunion…that is something he may come to regret as the group ages and may not all make it to the next reunion.
So be upset/angry with the administration…but don’t take it out on his old team mates or the vast majority of the fans who still love/respect him.
Bomber largely put himself into the position he finds himself in. Yes he helped out the club, but it was he who seemingly couldnt come to grips with relinquishing the job.
If the board treated him poorly, I dont think its the supporters place to grovel.
We have enough on our plate this season without needing to try and make Bomber happy.
Bomber is an old school coach.
Tweeting or doing any of that modern tech stuff isn’t him.
He’d probably appreciate a small banner that shows up on TV telecast games more than a twitter led thing or photos of people holding placards with hashtags, etc.
Just a simple banner with ‘Thankyou Bomba!’ will do.
Media wouldn’t blow it out of proportion and most opposition fans would think we can’t spell.
Look, I kind of agree.
I don't know about on the fan side of things...I honestly don't think that will help.
But with Harvey and Lloyd and Sheedy back…it sort of reinforces the idea that we have to look after our own. The club does need to repair its relationship with him.
It’s not good to have a Bartlett situation going on for a decade or two.
And when the stubborn old bugger says no, the club has to try again three months later.
And three months later.
And three months later.
Agree.
I reckon we will though. Club has come out of the last couple of years stronger and has learned a number of harsh lessons.
Now whether Bomber ever responds to the call or the email or the letter or the fax is entirely another matter.
It’s very hard to suggest anything - or in fact - agree with anything suggested, because there’s a lot of info regarding the situation most here don’t know.
I love Bomber. He was my first favourite player. Then he Captained the club to the first Premiership that I was able to attend in person. But he is also a bit of a grump who knows how to hold a grudge. I think there is some bitterness there because the club probably indicated at some stage that the job was his beyond 2014. His speech at the B&F (which I thought was poorly conceived regardless of what he was told) suggests that he thought he’d be coaching us. Then when he missed out on the GC job, I suspect he only got more bitter. There are also the rumours about substance use, and I suppose it is possible he thinks someone at the club is responsible for starting them. He has said that he knows who is to blame there, and believes that it cost him the GC job.
All of that aside, he was only an interim coach, and that was made perfectly clear at the start. There was plenty of gratitude shown in public statements by Little, Campbell and the players, though reading between the lines I’d guess a majority of the playing group were happy to have Hird return. When Bomber publicly campaigned to continue as head coach at the B&F he made it untenable to continue in any other capacity under Hird. Regardless, he also said that he had no interest in continuing in a lesser role.
So I’m not really sure what the club can do to “thank” Bomber. Hopefully an rift between him and the club can be resolved because he has been a wonderful servant of the club. But it seems that any bitterness in the relationship is harboured by Bomber, and the reasons for that bitterness is unclear.
Bomber largely put himself into the position he finds himself in. Yes he helped out the club, but it was he who seemingly couldnt come to grips with relinquishing the job.
If the board treated him poorly, I dont think its the supporters place to grovel.
We have enough on our plate this season without needing to try and make Bomber happy.
Is that true, or was it the board who led him to believe he would be coach?
I’m only speculating here but it is possible that Bomba was promised the job of continuing the coaching this year after Hird decided to take the appeal against the clubs wishes. Then when the club found it would be illegal to sack Hird they had to go back on the promise they made to Bomba. In these circumstances I can understand him being ■■■■■■ off, especially when he all but announced at the awards night that he would be coaching this year.
Now I fully support Hird as the best coach for the club but I think the suggestion of a banner to honor Bomba would be most approapriate.