They are at it again. GWS under the pump

[Matimbo]

About Eddie, I was interested in what his heartland thinks so I did some reading of BF Pies posts this arvo. There does seem to be a general consensus that his time is up. But also a great fondness for what he has done for the club. Annoyingly, this fondness is closely linked to their hatred for interstate clubs. e.g. the following 2 posts were typical:

"If it wasn't for Ed, then the Bears would still have additional $$$$ to pay for players, COLA $$$$ to the swans etc etc etc. He is the only one who has the guts to tell the AFL that it is not a level playing field. All the other Vic teams don't have guts to say it." Ummm, no ... the other Vic teams were busy winning premierships - Hawks, Cats.

"If it weren't for Ed the northern clubs would all be unbeatable (still may happen with GWS) and we would be broke."

So instead its OK for Brisbane to now be in deep trouble?? So does Eddie have the guts to tell the AFL that Collingwood getting all the Friday night TV games is not a level playing field?; that having the richest non-player budget is not a level playing field?; that him having a dedicated daily microphone at MMM to push his own agenda is not a level playing field?; etc etc.

IMO, Eddie has both created this monster but is also a product of it. If he moves on, someone with a similar mindset will move in.

[Nico]

About Eddie, I was interested in what his heartland thinks so I did some reading of BF Pies posts this arvo. There does seem to be a general consensus that his time is up. But also a great fondness for what he has done for the club. Annoyingly, this fondness is closely linked to their hatred for interstate clubs. e.g. the following 2 posts were typical:

"If it wasn't for Ed, then the Bears would still have additional $$$$ to pay for players, COLA $$$$ to the swans etc etc etc. He is the only one who has the guts to tell the AFL that it is not a level playing field. All the other Vic teams don't have guts to say it." Ummm, no ... the other Vic teams were busy winning premierships - Hawks, Cats.

"If it weren't for Ed the northern clubs would all be unbeatable (still may happen with GWS) and we would be broke."

So instead its OK for Brisbane to now be in deep trouble?? So does Eddie have the guts to tell the AFL that Collingwood getting all the Friday night TV games is not a level playing field?; that having the richest non-player budget is not a level playing field?; that him having a dedicated daily microphone at MMM to push his own agenda is not a level playing field?; etc etc.

IMO, Eddie has both created this monster but is also a product of it. If he moves on, someone with a similar mindset will move in.

Not to mention the draw.

[Ludwig]

If he moves on, someone with a similar mindset will move in.

Mindset - perhaps, but not with the same platform and power. Eddie has his own radio program, appears on just about every other radio station and footy tv program. He's a game commentator. He owns or is a shareholder in a load of media enterprises. And yes, to top it off, he is also the president of Collingwood.

It's like what Rupert Murdoch has done with Fox News in America. Murdoch has used his media dominance to create a megaphone for the Republican Party. I believe the station's motto is 'Fair and Balanced'. You decide. That's what Eddie says. He's doing it all for football, not for Collingwood or for himself. He's so benevolent and altruistic, he would have you believe. Eddie creates the biggest uneven playing field in that he shouts over everyone else's voice and tries to drown out anyone who disagrees with him.

There should be a cap on the number of stupid things a club president can say. If there were, Collingwood would be over the cap by noon on January 1st.

[Cheer_Cheer]

Eddie McGuire Collingwood: AFL club boss threatens to quit

I don't like this joke -

Meanwhile, McGuire has joked he is planning to establish a McGuire family dynasty at Collingwood and doesn?t want to leave his position at the helm of the club until one of his sons are ready to step up as his successor.

[CureTheSane]

Wouldn't it be great if his kids were selected in the draft by Sydney and GWS....

[Triple B]

Wouldn't it be great if his kids were selected in the draft by Sydney and GWS....

....using a future pick they received in the trade period the year before from Collingwood for somebody in the Jesse White mold.

[Luke Shannon]

Eddie McGuire Collingwood: AFL club boss threatens to quit

I don't like this joke -

Meanwhile, McGuire has joked he is planning to establish a McGuire family dynasty at Collingwood and doesn?t want to leave his position at the helm of the club until one of his sons are ready to step up as his successor.

What an inappropriate comment for a president to make. Collingwood is not a family owned enterprise like Visy or News Corp. Eddie serves at the pleasure of the Collingwood members. The Collingwood board should take him to task at the next board meeting for making innapropriate governance comments.

[Nico]

Wow, what a strange person.

What he saying is that things at Collingwood have gone sour and i have no idea what to do.

[Steve]

Mindset - perhaps, but not with the same platform and power. Eddie has his own radio program, appears on just about every other radio station and footy tv program. He's a game commentator. He owns or is a shareholder in a load of media enterprises. And yes, to top it off, he is also the president of Collingwood.

This is the biggest issue re: Eddie - if not for being Collingwood president, he has no relevance and would most likely lose all those platforms. And he knows it, and will say and do anything to cling on to his relevance.

Compared to other club presidents who have built successful careers in unrelated fields (business, politics etc) and can just focus on what is really important to their club and the game, and don't rely on being president to maintain a career or sense of identity.

He does now seem to be quite rattled and lost control of his rhetoric - finally senior journalists are voicing criticism and calling him out on a lot of his crap, and even Collingwood people are fairly passive in their support when he would have been expecting a roaring 'you can't go Eddie, we need you' endorsement.

[YvonneH]

Maybe now he knows how it feels to be constantly attacked and he is not handling it too well. Like James Hird he is not used to being questioned or people standing up to him.

[barry]

How does an afl commisioner get appointed. Do the clubs vote on it. Could,say, a voting block of 4 clubs veto an appointment?

[chalbilto]

Eddie has done it again with GWS loosing priority access to academy prospect Todd Marshall due "to a process error rather than a lack of involvement with the club's academy since he signed up." It seems that Gil & co are just puppets with the likes of Eddie pulling the strings. The guy just wont let up until the Northern teams are totally on their knees and subservient.

[barry]

Gill is a weak dog

[Ludwig]

Todd Marshall has spent the past 2 winters playing cricket in England. Not the Giants' fault that they couldn't do anything with him during this time, but nonetheless it seems a good argument that they don't deserve priority access to him. Kinnear Beatson has already come out and said that academy clubs need to show that they have been involved in the development of players that they have priority access to. He hasn't directly commented on this case, to my knowledge, but I would guess he would agree with the AFL's decision. That said, I really don't know the details about this particular case, nor the specific rules concerning this type of situation.

[barry]

The AFL is making up the rules as it goes along.