Is that the same list that beat Hawthorn in round 2 and had EFC touted as top 4 material? The list that gets freshened up this year with a few legends calling it a day. Were you bagging Little when he signed up Hird to the end of 2016, in August 2013? Have you ever considered we may have lost more draft picks, save for Little playing hard ball?Personally I don't put this on Katie or Paul at all. Many more complex issues surrounding this and for those who have seen the three year history you can clearly see Little and Hird have gone back and forth in support of each other. Relationship has often been good but also extremely strained as well. Little is the Chairman and a huge influence. You also have to have an understanding of an organisation seeing the players in such a dark place their welfare had to be on the coaches and management thoughts for 2016 and moving forward. It's horrifically unfair the constant media our players and coach especially receives and the fact is it sadly does have a deep affect. Have no doubt Hird spoke to Xavier instead of Little initially as they are much closer and talk often. You also have very close friends of James speaking to him like Corcoran etc. and I have no doubt they are discussing James life and where he is at in life and family. It's a mixture of many items coming together that I believe lead to this moment. This is my personal view. Guys like Simon Madded agreed with this and he knows well what happened & Hirds story and the unfairness of it. Simon's integrity is second to none and should be noted in his approval of these actions. It is what it is...incredibly sad and unjust but I think even Hird understands it even though he would like to have continued ...he is a very good businessman and I have no doubt understands branding and your main employees being players given some space from the intensity. An EGM won't fix anything and with Little resigning in next 3-4 months I think that's all we need personally as far as change. We start again as a club in 2016 and just being a regular footy club1. Little should have gone instead of Hird
2. Hird had a contract
3. Don’t promise things you can’t/won’t deliver to get elected
4. None of this was about the players
5. EFC need to start thinking about what it stands for. No good talking about fabric, then ripping said fabric up.Why?
He is going anyway.
He wanted Hird gone.I cant stand it when people in business make decisions for the long term when they know they are only staying for the very short term.
Once he knows he is going he shouldn’t be pressuring people (if he was) to make controversial decisions that he is not going to have to live with.
I have been through far too many of those, and the people left behind have to clean up the fall out, and try and unpick the mess.
That he is going proves nothing. He came in with a mandate to replace Evans for the period of the Saga and see us out of it.
That he wanted Hird gone - if true - means nothing. If he did, he wanted it because he thought it was the best thing for the club. Does anyone who stands in the way of almighty Hird deserve to be stripped of their post?
Would you prefer people who are there in the short term only make decisions which will make them look good in the short term and the club not necessarily be put in such a good position in the long term? Or are you implying he had no right to change the coaching panel whilst he was there if it was short term only? If so, why have him?
What fallout in this case? And don’t say “James gone, everyone is sad”
The list looks pretty ■■■■■■, we’ve not got a coach (and who knows if we’ll get one before trade week), lost draft picks are hurting and will continue to hurt. What fantastic “long term” decisions has he made?
That’s strange. The club itself disagrees with you because they’re conducting a full review of this list and planning to cull heavily. So, are you saying the club is wrong to do this?
They wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t conduct a review of the whole club, just like Little did last year in case that slipped you. So what is it, a good list or a crap list?
Did we know Little was complicit in getting Hird to accept the AFL’s penalties at the time? I tend to think that would have evoked some level of outrage at the time.Of course Little encouraged Hird, it was a trade off against the indefensible disrepute charge, and in a show of defiance and brinkmanship, Little signed Hird up. Give some credit where it’s due FFS.
“Have you ever considered we may have lost more draft picks, save for Little playing hard ball?” Have you considered that had Little sided with Hird, we may have not been penalised as harshly?
I think the fact you can’t contest the AFL’s disrepute clause is lost on you. Have you considered what Fitzpatrick may have had in mind for EFC when they opened settlement discussions? .
Just my thoughts and yes the Hird announcement came as a big shock and had no warning. Had hundreds of debates since Tuesday on this and we are talking about my all time hero here if anyone knows me. I am gutted Hird is gone...completely gutted. I still however can talk to those I know who are close to Hird or board members, CEO and form an opinion. I also know the motive of the guy who came third in board election voting so would I have voted differently in hindsight ...not so sureMotive? Sorry but that’s rubbish. Gauci’s mistake was to not promise what he couldn’t deliver. Two other candidates did. To pinpoint him is absolutely unfair. He did some terrific work at Melbourne Storm in difficult circumstances and would’ve offered something to our board.
My opinion and yes i have had debates on Ziggy report with Gauci who gave it a lot of credit and his thoughts on future of club. My view
Your post said “I know the motive” to me is not an opinion, it’s stated as fact.
Opinion, I can cop and we can agree to disagree on that. You’re a respected poster. I’m curious though, given what we now actually know, what were the “motives” of the elected two?
</blockquoteWell Gauci wants to be Chairman and was his goal by starting with board position last year. Was unhappy with Little’s performance and felt he could get EFC out of ASADA situation quicker by admitting and taking responsibility more on what he sees as our mistakes and working with AFL. In fact his position wouldnt be too different to Evans in many ways. Resolve issue fast and move on. some may like that and thats why we are all allowed to vote and have a say. No doubt in my mind he wants to be chairman today.
which is exactly why caro et al heavily promoted him at the time and why it was vitally important to the protection of the players to get caz and cuz on. The issue was bigger than hird then and is bigger than hird now. i would not be holding the hird thing against caz and cuz without first knowing the full details and having the opportunity to speak to them. That said i think hirds departure was handled poorly. That doesn’t mean i would have voted differently last year with the benefit of hindsight.
When do you expect them to disclose the “full details” - before or after the next election?
I would much rather have had Gauci on the Board than Lio and Cousins. Whatever you say about the bloke, he doesn’t crumple. Little would have had a nice old tussle.
Just my thoughts and yes the Hird announcement came as a big shock and had no warning. Had hundreds of debates since Tuesday on this and we are talking about my all time hero here if anyone knows me. I am gutted Hird is gone...completely gutted. I still however can talk to those I know who are close to Hird or board members, CEO and form an opinion. I also know the motive of the guy who came third in board election voting so would I have voted differently in hindsight ...not so sureMotive? Sorry but that’s rubbish. Gauci’s mistake was to not promise what he couldn’t deliver. Two other candidates did. To pinpoint him is absolutely unfair. He did some terrific work at Melbourne Storm in difficult circumstances and would’ve offered something to our board.
My opinion and yes i have had debates on Ziggy report with Gauci who gave it a lot of credit and his thoughts on future of club. My view
Your post said “I know the motive” to me is not an opinion, it’s stated as fact.
Opinion, I can cop and we can agree to disagree on that. You’re a respected poster. I’m curious though, given what we now actually know, what were the “motives” of the elected two?
</blockquoteWell Gauci wants to be Chairman and was his goal by starting with board position last year. Was unhappy with Little’s performance and felt he could get EFC out of ASADA situation quicker by admitting and taking responsibility more on what he sees as our mistakes and working with AFL. In fact his position wouldnt be too different to Evans in many ways. Resolve issue fast and move on. some may like that and thats why we are all allowed to vote and have a say. No doubt in my mind he wants to be chairman today.
which is exactly why caro et al heavily promoted him at the time and why it was vitally important to the protection of the players to get caz and cuz on. The issue was bigger than hird then and is bigger than hird now. i would not be holding the hird thing against caz and cuz without first knowing the full details and having the opportunity to speak to them. That said i think hirds departure was handled poorly. That doesn’t mean i would have voted differently last year with the benefit of hindsight.
When do you expect them to disclose the “full details” - before or after the next election?
i don’t. i don’t know who i’ll vote for next time. Doesn’t mean i can’t give them the benefit of the doubt.
Just my thoughts and yes the Hird announcement came as a big shock and had no warning. Had hundreds of debates since Tuesday on this and we are talking about my all time hero here if anyone knows me. I am gutted Hird is gone...completely gutted. I still however can talk to those I know who are close to Hird or board members, CEO and form an opinion. I also know the motive of the guy who came third in board election voting so would I have voted differently in hindsight ...not so sureMotive? Sorry but that’s rubbish. Gauci’s mistake was to not promise what he couldn’t deliver. Two other candidates did. To pinpoint him is absolutely unfair. He did some terrific work at Melbourne Storm in difficult circumstances and would’ve offered something to our board.
My opinion and yes i have had debates on Ziggy report with Gauci who gave it a lot of credit and his thoughts on future of club. My view
Your post said “I know the motive” to me is not an opinion, it’s stated as fact.
Opinion, I can cop and we can agree to disagree on that. You’re a respected poster. I’m curious though, given what we now actually know, what were the “motives” of the elected two?
</blockquoteWell Gauci wants to be Chairman and was his goal by starting with board position last year. Was unhappy with Little’s performance and felt he could get EFC out of ASADA situation quicker by admitting and taking responsibility more on what he sees as our mistakes and working with AFL. In fact his position wouldnt be too different to Evans in many ways. Resolve issue fast and move on. some may like that and thats why we are all allowed to vote and have a say. No doubt in my mind he wants to be chairman today.
which is exactly why caro et al heavily promoted him at the time and why it was vitally important to the protection of the players to get caz and cuz on. The issue was bigger than hird then and is bigger than hird now. i would not be holding the hird thing against caz and cuz without first knowing the full details and having the opportunity to speak to them. That said i think hirds departure was handled poorly. That doesn’t mean i would have voted differently last year with the benefit of hindsight.
When do you expect them to disclose the “full details” - before or after the next election?
i don’t. i don’t know who i’ll vote for next time. Doesn’t mean i can’t give them the benefit of the doubt.
Unlike the coach…
General Little, leading* from the front**??Cerberus is back!
lol remember when we got Little and all the talk was about how he is a bulldog and will own the AFL…
Hahahaha memories! Delusion is grand.
General Little, leading* from the front**??Cerberus is back!
lol remember when we got Little and all the talk was about how he is a bulldog and will own the AFL…
Hahahaha memories! Delusion is grand.
Whilst not getting every decision right, Little took on the role in our darkest hour. He managed to:
- get 34 (ridiculous) AFL charges down to one about bringing the game into disrepute which is near impossible to fight at court
- negotiated a draft concession pick at the end of Round 1; something no other club that has been penalised with the loss of two first round draft picks, has been able to do. That pick netted us Laverde I believe. This is his biggest victory in my opinion.
- overseen us keeping (and growing) our sponsors and increasing our membership
- took the saga process to the Fed Court which delayed the SCN process enough to allow us to play finals in 2014
- actually implemented a succession plan (presumably Lindsay Tanner) so that he can leave the club at the end of the saga in a much better shape than Evans did to him. No matter how tough things have gotten he not cut and run.
Little has not been perfect. But he has been far, far better than most here give him credit for.
General Little, leading* from the front**??Cerberus is back!
lol remember when we got Little and all the talk was about how he is a bulldog and will own the AFL…
Hahahaha memories! Delusion is grand.
The trophy in his office. That’s all that needed to be said.
General Little, leading* from the front**??Cerberus is back!
lol remember when we got Little and all the talk was about how he is a bulldog and will own the AFL…
Hahahaha memories! Delusion is grand.
Little is a LITIGIOUS NIGHTMARE for the AFL.
I believe the above says far more about the AFL than Paul Little
Hi All,
Firstly wanted to say to those who I’ve seen asking that I’ve been reading here since a day or two after Hirdy’s press conference, pretty sure I made it through everything other than the middle part of the massive thread. Actually I’ve been reading all season, though I did have to track down some login details to post this.
I’ve seen some support which I really appreciate, plenty of disappointment, some anger. I understand the anger and disappointment, I have enormous respect for Hirdy both as a person and as a coach and certainly it’s been a very hard and sad week or two for our club. That said it’s important to know that James isn’t lost to the club, he’ll forever be a legend of it and I’m sure after some time away with his family he’ll be back around the place.
As I stated many times when asked early in this thread (prior to the election) I strongly believe that confidential board discussion and deliberation MUST remain private, and that we can’t very well bemoan leaks on some things and demand them on others. I take my responsibility to the club and the board extremely seriously, if you read the early part of this thread that is seemingly important to a lot of posters on here too. So for those asking for specific details and explanations beyond what was spoken about a couple of weeks ago I’m sorry but all I can really do is reiterate what James and Paul talked about in the press conference and what James spoke about in his video to members; that after lengthy discussions between James, Xavier and Paul over the course of a month on what was best for the players and the club moving forward Paul eventually provisionally accepted James’ offer to resign - which the Board then ratified. There was never a Board vote to sack James, the board voted on the decision to ratify the acceptance of James’ resignation.
I realise coming here with few answers might frustrate some further and that’s part of the reason I haven’t posted before now, but I thought it was important anyway. I love the club, as do the rest of the board. These aren’t faceless people, they are all time Bomber legends who helped build the club like Simon Madden, premiership players like Chris Heffernan, people who have been around the club much of their lives like Daryl Jackson and so on; supporters who like me have loved the club from first memory and would only ever try to act in its best interests. We bleed with every loss and fly with every win just like most who post here.
I’m sorry if some who voted for me feel let down but in my time as a Director I’ve only ever tried to act in the best interests of the Club and our Members, I’ll continue to do that for as long as I’m on the Board. Thanks again to those who’ve offered support, I hope you stick with the club as I really believe we’ve got a lot to look forward to.
Your comments are much appreciated. So much bs around these parts
Oh and can you encourage the Lawdons to help J T’ s legal action !!
Seriously though, thanks for coming back to this asylum even if you can’t really tell us much.
Thanks Paul.
Thanks for the comments Paul.
.
Brave man . Thanks for clarification. Keep punching.
Brave? I’m not sure. But better late than never. Thanks for the communication, it certainly helps.
All that needed to be said. Good.