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Casey offers poll deal
By Mike Sheahan
July 23, 2004
RICHMOND president Clinton Casey has offered to go to election 12 months early in a bid to bring peace to Punt Rd.
Casey told the Herald Sun yesterday he would put his fate in the hands of the members next summer if the forces plotting against him abandoned a push for a spill of the board in the next few weeks.
"I am prepared to offer myself up for re-election at the appropriate time, which is at our annual general meeting at the end of the year (January)," he said.
He isn't due to seek re-election until the 2005 annual meeting.
"To those out there at the moment with a view to forcing an extraordinary general meeting, I'm saying now's not the right time. We need a period of stability. Let's wait until the annual general meeting."
Casey said the instability that has engulfed Richmond in recent months had become a major impediment in the search for a coach to replace Danny Frawley after the current season.
The issue has become even more urgent since Hawthorn joined the race for a coach, more specifically an experienced coach.
"It's affecting our recruiting of players and it's certainly affecting our ability to get the best coach," Casey said.
"This is just a critical period for the club and we can't afford to display the instability that's currently surrounding the club," Casey said.
He said Richmond director of football Greg Miller needed a stable environment if he was to restructure the club as quickly as possible.
"Greg's ambition is to rebuild the whole football club. He can't do that in the environment that currently exists. So anything that's going to create stability, (he's) going to be in favour of.
"For him to be able to get the best coach and recruit the best players, like he did last year with Nathan Brown – we would never have got Nathan Brown last year had we been in the turmoil that we're in this year – he needs a stable environment.
"What manager is going to recommend the Richmond Football Club (to his player) with the instability from the outside that currently exists?
"It's raised at every meeting, but it's of particular concern to the applicants that we're probably the most interested in (Read Terry Wallace and Rodney Eade)."
Casey said he believed the two people known to be agitating for a spill – former board member Brendan Schwab and supporter Michael Pahoff – were driven by personal issues.
He said his offer to put his board seat at risk 12 months earlier than required should satisfy both Schwab and Pahoff if they were genuinely interested in the long-term welfare of the club.
Sponsorship is another area at risk, with the club's two major backers – the TAC and Motorola – both out of contract later this year.
Asked if developments at Hawthorn had stung him into action, Casey said: "With Hawthorn saying that they're looking for an experienced coach, I think that's certainly put more competition into the market place.
"When we were last in this market place (1999-2000), we couldn't attract the best coach because of instability, and it's happening to us again, and the club can't afford it."
The Leon Daphne administration of 1999 failed in a bold bid to lure Kevin Sheedy to Punt Road, then was rejected by Michael Malthouse and Mark Thompson before picking Frawley ahead of Tony Elshaug and Brian Royal.
Casey said he and his board had learnt several lessons during five years.
"There's been some mistakes made, but we're in the process of correcting those and those same mistakes will not be made again."
Casey said a decision on the coaching job would be made as soon as possible, probably within 2-3 weeks.
