Essendon chairman Paul Little to coach James Hird: ‘I’ll cut you loose’Chip Le Grand
Herald-Sun
June 21, 2015 Previously unseen text messages sent to Hird by Little on the eve of an AFL Commission meeting called to resolve the doping scandal reveal the intense pressure on Hird from his own club to do a deal.
The first of two messages from the billionaire businessman appeared on Hird’s phone in August 2013 when he was at the Toorak home of Gillon McLachlan, pleading his case to the future AFL chief.
“James AFL telling me you are trying to change the negotiated deal. I can’t help you any further James as Fitzpatrick has the s---s and the Total deal now has the wobbles up. I will have to cut you loose. I thought you & I had an agreement. I need to know this afternoon what your decision is. Paul.’’The second message, an hour and a half later, is even more blunt.
“James AFL have said they will not do EFC deal unless we stand you down. Your decision not to take 12 months is going to impact the total club. This dispute is about to get very messy because you won’t take another 6 months ie a total of 12. If you really want to do what’s in the best interest of the club & its players take 12 months. Anything else will be selfish. Paul.’’The full extent of the AFL and Essendon’s attempts to force a settlement are revealed in The Straight Dope, a book about the Essendon and Cronulla drug scandal, to be published this week.
They provide insight into Hird’s claims he only agreed to his year’s suspension from coaching under “great duress, threats and inducements’’.
Little’s frustration with Hird followed several days of secret negotiations that August between the Bombers president and AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick to end the drugs crisis.
Hird had earlier initiated Supreme Court action to prevent the AFL Commission from deciding his fate.
Under the settlement package, the Bombers would be dumped from the finals series and Hird stood down for a year on full pay. No action would be taken against the Essendon players and Hird would drop his Supreme Court case.
The negotiations were facilitated by Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie, a close friend of Fitzpatrick and Little’s most trusted business adviser.
Little’s text messages, sent on the afternoon of Sunday, August 25, were provoked by Hird’s refusal to accept the AFL’s offer during a long meeting at McLachlan’s house.
That night, Little followed up with a phone call to Hird at home. During that conversation, the Essendon president told his coach that if he refused to stand down, the AFL would have him sacked.
Little feared that if the AFL, club and coach could not agree to terms, the AFL would strip Essendon of all premiership points for the following season — a move that would cripple the club on and off the field.
In an expansive interview with the author, Little said he did not want to sack Hird. However, he made it clear to the coach that if he continued to wage war against the AFL, he would be on his own.
“Rather than sack him I just told him I couldn’t protect him anymore. You have got to do what is in the best interests of the club now,’’ Little said.
Two days later, Hird reluctantly agreed to the AFL’s terms. The charge against him was dropped and the coach entered his year of exile.
http://www.news.com.au/national/essendon-chairman-paul-little-to-coach-james-hird-ill-cut-you-loose/story-e6frfkp9-1227407695614More to this story here:
http://www.news.com.au/national/inside-the-bombers-drug-crisis/story-e6frfkp9-1227407678312
