New coach announced within a month? & Schwab to ask Casey to resign next week.

[mightytiges]

Tigers to act soon on coach
By Caroline Wilson, Melissa Ryan
realfooty.theage.com.au
July 2, 2004


Richmond could appoint a new coach as early as this month, with outgoing coach Danny Frawley agreeing to work in caretaker mode until the end of the season.

With the Clinton Casey administration poised to fight off a challenge from a ticket being organised by his former deputy Brendan Schwab, the prevailing view is that the key coaching appointment could shore up support for Casey and restore some stability.

It is believed Frawley has agreed to the move and will help smooth the transition for his successor, who would play a behind-the-scenes role.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, himself unofficially approached several times in recent months to coach Richmond, has strongly pushed and recommended his assistant Mark Harvey to his Tiger contacts.

But Rodney Eade, Terry Wallace and Garry Lyon still figure at the top of the wish list.

The club has not given up on Lyon, despite the former Melbourne captain-turned-media performer and publisher telling Richmond coaching consultant David Parkin that he was unlikely to consider the position.

Football director Greg Miller will begin the initial interview process as early as next week after he returns from Brisbane on Sunday after the Tigers-Lions clash on Saturday night.

Casey and Miller are concerned that should rebel member Michael Pahoff force an extraordinary general meeting and, in turn, an election, the club would move into limbo over the coaching position.

Pahoff has received the 100 signatures required to call a meeting and then would require only 45 days' notice to force an election and appoint an interim board with no power to appoint a coach.

While Miller said several days ago that a new coaching appointment during the season could embarrass Frawley, that view has changed. The club believes that an early decision would harm the Schwab challenge and give the new mentor a head start on an overhaul of the club's list and football department.

Already a new chief executive, former Melbourne grand prix boss Steve Wright, has been appointed.

Schwab, who resigned from the Richmond board in March and who outlined his fears and solutions for the club - many of them financial - in a board paper 12 months ago, is expected to meet Casey next week and ask him to resign.

Schwab, the son of former Richmond secretary and AFL executive Alan Schwab, has a support team that includes his former board colleague and 1980 premiership player Peter Welsh.

But Casey clearly already has moved into election mode, yesterday publishing a call for support, stability and unity from members on the club's website.

Casey sought to explain to supporters why the embattled club will lose $2 million this year, and promised a "low cost/youthful approach" in its restructuring.

Casey said the next six months were "critical" to the future of club.

"As has been widely reported, the club is facing a loss of up to $2 million for 2004. We have identified how this occurred and have already made changes to our administration as we begin the task of turning it around," Casey said in an open letter on the club's website.

He pinpointed four areas that contributed to the precarious financial situation:

  •Poor team performance, affecting gate receipts.

  •Plummeting gaming revenue.

  •Having "overly optimistic revenue projections", and failing to find new sources of club income.

  •Excessive spending that was "set at unsustainable levels".

The club's budget planning for the next two years will separate team performance from revenue projections, and Casey said he was confident that although revenue levels were "relatively poor" compared with other Melbourne-based clubs, the Tigers would be able to woo back several key sponsors.

http://realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/07/01/1088488094521.html

[Rodgerramjet]

It seems that the Idiots running our club are going to rush in and appoint a coach as soon as possible just so they can save there own skins, that's putting the club first isn't it.

Their not interested in anything other than themselves, I should say casey. If he does this I hope he goes down.

[mightytiges]

You took the words right out of my mouth RR. Both sides seem more interested in playing petty and sly politics rather than making decisions that put the Club first  . We talk about Danny giving up on pre-game plans 5 minutes in; geez if the above is true then Casey is just as bad off-field. What happened to following through with the organized process of selecting a coach. They start interviewing candidates next week which would leave only 3 weeks to finish all the interviewing, making up a short-list, have further interviews then making a final decision. For heaven's sake there's 9 weeks to the end of the season. Why not use the time to be thorough and make sure we get the right man for the job and Richmond

[Jackstar]

There is a major problem here.
Terry Wallace has already been earmarked for the job. Problem is that he WONT come to Tigerland if the board  spills or there are problems , who would.?
Thats been the problem for years, internal fighting!
As for the other Ticket ( Scwhab Welsh and co ) Schwab and Welsh didnt have time at the start of the year to be involved so its fair to assume they tell lies. Also if something isnt going well, why jump ship as they did, that is no way to manage a business or be involved on a board is it.
I rather let Miller and Casey do what they are doing. Casey as often said , if there is anyone better to do the job, he is happy for them to take over the reins,if not he is a liar as well as he has said this in the media.
Lets get a good coach now, straighten the ship up and move forward.
I really think the Schwab /Welsh thing is pee week actually. As soon as they knew that revenue was down, they were out of there.

[WilliamPowell]

There is a major problem here.
Terry Wallace has already been earmarked for the job. Problem is that he WONT come to Tigerland if the board  spills or there are problems , who would.?

Good point Jackstar - to get the best possible coach we need to be seen united and stable - board challenges will not achieve this. Also, the point Caro makes about being "limbo land" with an interim board is right (gee that was painful ). How do we get a coach then - all the ones we are targeting will be gone and we would have to settle for option 5,6 or 7 again!

Thats been the problem for years, internal fighting!
As for the other Ticket ( Scwhab Welsh and co ) Schwab and Welsh didnt have time at the start of the year to be involved so its fair to assume they tell lies. Also if something isnt going well, why jump ship as they did, that is no way to manage a business or be involved on a board is it.

That's been one of my big bug bears - if things were so bad why did the run and not fight?

I rather let Miller and Casey do what they are doing.

Lets get a good coach now, straighten the ship up and move forward.

Do we really want to risk losing a coach like Wallace? No.

We ned to get this appointment right - and we need to move NOW. We are the only club who needs a new coach in 2005, that can move now. Adelaide cannot because they have a care-taker that I reckon they would like to appoint for next year but are not prepared too so he has to audition. Richmond are not in that situation because Frawley is staying until the end of the year