Mark Thompson leaving Essendon - Should we Call him??

[Jeanette54]

On a purely practical note, there may be ramifications with Bomber's refusal o pay the AFL fine. He may not be eligible to coach. No doubt it could be paid on his behalf, by which ever club he may or may not coach in the future but I am unsure how that would sit with the AFL. Of course there may be an off chance that further ASADA investigations might implicate him further in the Essendon mire.

Who knows.

But I must say I was an admirer of the way he held the reins at Essendon last season. I cannot conceive of the enormous pressure he must have been under. And for me AFL360, with Bomber and Paul Roos provided the best 20 minutes or so of TV viewing for the week. I think the way he handled last year was a credit to his personal strength and integrity.

I believe that with support from a unified club, he would do a fine job for us; and also a coaching gig might be the salvation of both the club and Bomber.

[KT31]

Not sure about Bomber now, a year back I would have had no hesitations.

Thompson was chastised by Little for his failure to meet the deadline to pay his AFL-sanctioned $30,000 fine, a failure the chairman believes has embarrassed the club.

Yeah sure, this is what has embarrassed the imbeciles.

[Jeanette54]

Yeah sure, this is what has embarrassed the imbeciles.

There is no doubt this whole affair has trashed the Essendon brand in the public arena, quite possibly beyond repair.

I think that even Paul Little now understands that not only the actual injection procedures, but their continual refusal to accept the responsibility for the program and its mismanagement are an ongoing PR disaster.

Their plans for mitigating this however were somewhat derailed by the actions of the golden child in appealing the recent court decision.

To be fair I would think that (after loosing their own court appeal) the committee were prepared to cop their whack, and get on with life away from the glare of continued public scrutiny and legal action.

But that was not to be. I believe that the club management have lost control of their club and the integrity of its brand. That is now in the hands of a single individual.

That cannot be good for their officials, players, sponsors, supporters or their future.

[Murphy'sLore]

I just shake my head in disbelief as James Hird claims another victim. He is like Chucky. How can he still hold this whole club hostage to his own overweening ego and narcissism?

With no emotional involvement (bar schadenfreude), you have to relish the pure Greek tragedy of this story. Who plays Hird in the mini-series?

Oh, wait, of course, he could do that himself, too...

[LostDoggy]

I just shake my head in disbelief as James Hird claims another victim. He is like Chucky. How can he still hold this whole club hostage to his own overweening ego and narcissism?

With no emotional involvement (bar schadenfreude), you have to relish the pure Greek tragedy of this story. Who plays Hird in the mini-series?

Oh, wait, of course, he could do that himself, too...

Paul Little is responsible for this. Signing Hird to a contract extension before the ink on the original AFL punishments was dry was the height of lunacy. Every step he's taken since taking over has been in quicksand. I struggle to see how this man became such a successful businessman making such ill-planned and knee-jerk decisions.

[LostDoggy]

Dont think he will be coming to us after texting Alan Stoneham on the night we sacked Macca saying our club was a basket case

[Happy Days]

Thinks he is bigger than the game.
AFL has taken an internal body blow, thanks to Human experimentation program, Windy Hill, and McLachlan can increase the size of flags, bring back kick to kick and whatever else, but the harm has been massive. So over Essendon. Refusal to pay his fine and also support the players assoc is pathetic. How does he deserve to be an AFL coach?

Nathan Bock knocked out his girlfriend, Toby Greene almost killed a guy with a crutch, Stephen Milne (didn't?) raped someone.

If you're good enough at something then you deserve anything I guess.