Double-barrel shotgun is pointed
Patrick Smith
The Australian
June 02, 2004
THE Richmond board room has a suspicious look to it. A large wall cabinet that once held televisions and sophisticated recording and replay devices is bare but for dust. The predicted $2million loss is cutting deeply. Apparently everything is in hock.
President Clinton Casey is quick to reassure us. Thieves and not pawn brokers cleaned out the boardroom six weeks ago. There has been no rush to replace the TVs and VCRs. With four wins from 10 matches, replay facilities are not in big demand at Punt Road.
Casey is under siege. He doesn't know exactly from whom or from where, but he knows the double-barrel shotgun of frustration and disappointment is pointed at him.
Yesterday he met Leon Daphne, the immediate past president of the club. Daphne has voiced his concern about the future of the Tigers.
Over coffee with Daphne, Casey says he was able to explain the club's financial position and his predecessor left wiser and in peace.
But Daphne has never wanted to return to power. Not like Charles Macek, the former board member and would-be president. He did the media rounds yesterday after telling The Australian that "a fish rots from the head".
For the moment, Macek sits and watches, his finger on the trigger and Richmond on the nose.
Casey's strategy is to hold his nerve. He admits the public perception is of a club in turmoil. It is not competitive on the field or in the marketplace.
A $2m loss is freely touted. Board members have left. Coach Danny Frawley can convince no one, not even his players, that the Tigers can play good football. Casey must find a new CEO. Talkback callers are increasingly cranky. Perception and reality blur easily at Punt Road.
In many ways the club has become Casey's personal chattel. His $1.6m guarantee with the ANZ Bank is all that has allowed the club to trade. It has given him enormous power.
Three board members left in a fortnight, more pushed than planned. Only one has been replaced.
Casey says reports that he cannot fill the vacancies are nonsense. His list of applicants for the positions grows by the week. A woman would be good, but the president is in no rush.
He figures a board of seven might even be more manageable and effective than a board of nine. Eight marketing staff were retrenched in December and an out-sourcing agreement with Elite Sports Properties is being reassessed.
A review of the football department was initiated at last night's board meeting. The task for football director Greg Miller is to assess team progress during Frawley's five years as coach.
Expected to be finished in a month, it is fanciful to think it will reflect well on Frawley, his assistants or the recruiters. Frawley's tenure has delivered 45 wins from 101 contests. After three finals in 2001, the club has finished 15th in 2002 and 2003. Supporters spat on players and coaching staff as they left the ground after a 75-point loss to Adelaide in round five. This is not a happy club.
Casey's immediate task is to find a replacement for chief executive officer Ian Campbell. The favourite is Leighton Wood. He comes highly recommended. But so did Campbell.
Much has gone wrong under Casey's presidency. Campbell did not work out. Neither has Frawley, the coach Casey has backed almost blindly. A decision to throw money at the football department this season in a hope victories would drive off-field revenue streams has proved madness.
And it was done against the best advice from AFL headquarters. Recruiting has been for the moment and not the future.
Casey promises all that will change. A restocked football department will next season be given a brutal budget rather than be asked for a wish list. Player salaries will be cut and the list taken to with a chain saw. The new CEO will have to find an extra $3m in revenue.
Casey's ploy is to stare down his challengers.
He is happy for the public to think a $2m loss is coming. If it does the supporters will have grown numb to its size; less and they will be chuffed.
Casey knows the demands of the presidency but figures it takes more vigour to raise a challenge than survive one. So he waits.
The double-barrel shotgun is pointed and loaded. Casey's hunch is that no one cares enough to pull the trigger. It is not without risk.
Bang bang, you're dead.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9719248%255E12270,00.html
