Former Richmond president Clinton Casey slams Greg Miller sacking
Glenn McFarlane and Jackie Epstein | August 03, 2008
THE sacking of Richmond football director Greg Miller showed a "complete lack of respect", former president Clinton Casey says.
But former Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, who has declared an interest in returning to Richmond, said only time would tell if the club had made the right call.
"Richmond might win the same amount of games next year without Greg, or go nowhere and stay ninth," Sheedy said. "It's all irrelevant until the club decides it wants to make great planning decisions."
Casey, who recruited Miller to Punt Rd six years ago, broke his silence yesterday to express his disappointment with the way in which Miller's axing was leaked on a day Richmond played the Brisbane Lions in a key game.
While acknowledging president Gary March and the board had every right to make changes, he questioned the decision and its timing, saying it could have put the Tigers' season in jeopardy.
"I am only an outsider looking in these days, and I am no longer privy to what happens there, but you have to say that it doesn't make a lot of sense," Casey said.
Casey certainly believes the club needs sorting out.
He said he was frustrated by two important issues that he could not understand in the Miller sacking: Why the board could not find an alternative role for him; and, the lack of respect afforded him.
"Greg has done so much for this club in many different areas during his time there," Casey said.
"If he was not the right person to run the footy department, then don't tell me he couldn't have played some other role.
"I was very surprised that they were happy to lose a person of Greg's football background and experience.
"The second point is that I was personally disappointed with the way it was done. I thought there was a complete lack of respect for what Greg Miller had done for our football club.
"I understand that in football things can sometimes leak out, but this was an incredibly important member of the club. Greg did not deserve what he ended up getting."
Casey met Miller on Friday night and has been in contact with several board members since the sacking.
"Most of my discussions with them (the board members) were trying to get to the bottom of what was rumour and what was true," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24118831-19742,00.html
