Wallace says cutbacks caused Dog fight

[BulldogBelle]

Wallace speaks.....

Wallace says cutbacks caused Dog fight
WA Today
Sam Lienert
June 4, 2009

Wallace says cutbacks caused Dog fight
Sam Lienert
June 4, 2009 - 9:19PM
Outgoing Richmond coach Terry Wallace says his bitter parting with the Western Bulldogs in 2002 came about because of the AFL club's determination to severely strip back the football department at the time.

Wallace, who publicly apologised for the acrimonious split earlier this week, said he made his decision to leave within days of chief executive Campbell Rose arriving at the club with a "mandate to strip the footy department".

"The club was really struggling, they needed to take probably $1.5 million out of the footy department, there was question about whether I'd go on in 12 months time," Wallace told the Nine Network's AFL Footy Show on Thursday night.

"I coached that weekend, went back to the club on Monday, went back to (president) David (Smorgon) and Campbell and said that if they were going to strip all the assistant coaches I'd built up over six years that was going to have us at loggerheads for the next 12 months."

He said in the two days following Rose's appointment his manager checked the possibility of him gaining a head coaching job elsewhere and had gained an understanding he could move into the then-vacant job at the Sydney Swans.

But Wallace said there had never been a formal agreement signed with the Swans, who eventually gave the job to caretaker coach Paul Roos.

"There was no heads of agreement but my management were in a position where we thought we had an availability to go to Sydney Swans," he said.

Wallace said he, Rose and Smorgon agreed that he would leave the Bulldogs to take that opportunity.

"If they allowed me to step away and have an opportunity at another club they would be able to get rid of my contract straight off and they would also at the same time be in a situation where they could do whatever they needed to do in relation to the funds at the club," he said.

"We shook hands on the Monday night and that was accepted as being the way that it was going to go forward."

He expected to coach out the final game of the season, but after the Bulldogs players found out about the decision they angrily voted he should leave without guiding them into that match.

Wallace said the Bulldogs "slapped a writ" on him at the time preventing him from speaking publicly about how the situation unfolded and he never had a chance to give his side of the story to the players.

"Both sides didn't handle the whole thing very well at all, so many people got hurt," he said.

"I got hurt, I know Western Bulldogs people won't believe that, but I got hurt, I believe my reputation got hurt.

"I believe that not even to a degree did the players know what went on ... I had no opportunity to speak to the playing group at a time, it caused an inordinate amount of problems to a lot of people."

[LostDoggy]

Outgoing Richmond coach Terry Wallace says his bitter parting with the Western Bulldogs in 2002 came about because of the AFL club's determination to severely strip back the football department at the time.

A reason why he quit was a threat from Cambell Rose to cut the football department yet its one reason (lack of resources) why he believe he failed at the tigers. He quits one club then goes to another with the same problem?

He also painted himself as the bulldog saviour as if he didn't quit, Cooney wouldn't be at the club.

He could not deny 2 things, he was paid out by the Swans who broke his contract and Chris Newman asked him to resign.

[comrade]

Evasive to the end.

He’ll finally get a send off game involving the Bulldogs – I know Chris Grant doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body, but I wonder if he’ll have a wry smile tonight.

[bulldogtragic]

Wallace is a cancer in football terms.

[mjp]

Yeah...all of this is well and good. But no matter what Wallace says now or did then, the actions the club took to replace him smacked of desperation.

[bornadog]

Yeah...all of this is well and good. But no matter what Wallace says now or did then, the actions the club took to replace him smacked of desperation.

The club was desperate and nearly went under, financially.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Yeah...all of this is well and good. But no matter what Wallace says now or did then, the actions the club took to replace him smacked of desperation.

Why?

History tells us that Rohde was terrible but when he was appointed he was a fairly well regarded assistant with a good record coaching Norwood.

We didn't have the cash to chase a Matthews, so I didn't have a problem with the appointment, other than the minor issue with him being no good.

[mjp]

All of those things are true SS - the desperation part was the speed in which it all happened...it wasn't the appointment, rather the 'well, so what? Here is one we prepared earlier' nature of it that seemed contrived.

You have to remember, I was on the other side of the country at the time and it all seemed incredibly quick, the 'search' for the best candidate was not exactly extensive and the salary issue seemed to be the primary reason for the decision.

[ledge]

Its ok to pin Rhode he was poo but you take that gamble sometimes it works, eg Malthouse and as much as some bag Wallace i wouldnt say he was a shocking choice.
Then we had Hart many years ago , we have always been a club to take first time coaches due to money retraints or trying a supposed new big name .

Some come off some dont .
Rhode was one who didnt.

[bulldogtragic]

Some come off some dont .
Rhode was one who didnt.

Do we have a thread for 'WOOF understatement of 2009'

Just thnking about 'cheap as chips' and his reckless abandoning of top draft picks makes me sad.

[Dancin' Douggy]

It's just terry once again leaving smoke clouds, decoys and false trails.
Have you ever seen a guy dig a bigger hole for himself then plough last week?

[alwaysadog]

I know there's seldom a single cause for anything and that El Tel is complex and emotional character but for years now we have been getting different versions all with some truth in them, all with some stretching of the truth.

Quite frankly I no longer care about what exactly happened back then. The simple fact was that it was messy and nasty and as a club we have moved on and become relatively successful with a future to look forward to.

I'm sorry that the past still needs rewriting to suit certain egos.

Time for you to move on too, Terry!

[Remi Moses]

How long is this charade going to continue? Funnily enough when he first went to Richmond guess what? Cuts to the Football dept. Everybody knows that Sydney had a contract in place and we all know the rest of the storyMy question is if he is so concerned about cuts to the football dept why didn't he walk from Richmond?Just another piece in the puzzle of Wallace hypocrosy.

[bornadog]

How long is this charade going to continue? Funnily enough when he first went to Richmond guess what? Cuts to the Football dept. Everybody knows that Sydney had a contract in place and we all know the rest of the storyMy question is if he is so concerned about cuts to the football dept why didn't he walk from Richmond?Just another piece in the puzzle of Wallace hypocrosy.

Terry has a history of leaving clubs early:

Hawks - dispute about his contract as a player, left

Richmond - played a handful of games, and left after another bust up

Bulldogs - left half way through a 4 year contract

Richmond - sacked in 5th year

[FrediKanoute]

Yeah...all of this is well and good. But no matter what Wallace says now or did then, the actions the club took to replace him smacked of desperation.

Spot on. We can criticise Wallace and blame him for our woes and yes he does deserve some blame, but the decision to appoint Rhode.....the "Cheap as Chips" option had implications.....not the smartest thing that Smorgo and Rose have done.