Richmond Board Challenge are they Messiahs or just a bunch of Naughty Boys?

 

When the Focus on Football group announced their challenge to take over the Richmond board in a bloodless coup (bloodless never happens at Punt Rd) I just had to laugh and think this is the icing on the cake for a horrible year for the Tigers. As a Richmond member/supporter for over 30 years I have seen coaches, players, board members and admin staff come and go.  All with the hope to end the premiership drought and make Richmond the powerhouse club that it was in the ’60s and ’70s.  As we know this has not happened.  Sure there have been a few false dawns such as making the finals in 1995 and 2001.

 

Of course our run of finals 3 years running should have gathered the momentum to become a force in the AFL again, but with the disappointment of this season the club is at a cross roads.  Yes the membership is over 70,000, facilities are some of the best in the AFL and the bank account is very much in the black (apologies for sounding like a Collingwood supporter, Christ don’t they love to tell everyone about their training centre and how many supporters they have?).  The problems are on the field which at the end of the day is the measuring stick on how successful a football club is.

 

We have a squad that has more holes than a golf course, recruiting staff that stuck too long to quick fixes and a coach that had the wrong game plan for the season.   So yes changes need to be made, but changing the board won’t solve the issues.  If the current board has recognised that changes need to be made and a review was put in place halfway through this season.  Shouldn’t we allow the board to present the review and carry out the recommendations?

 

We have seen majority of the coaching staff given the flick and while I am not the biggest fan of Hardwick I am willing to give him one more season.   Of course if we get Neil Balme that will also go a long way towards giving us more stability in the football department.  Doing change for change sake does not solve the issues.  Finding out what the issues are and being brave enough to say we need to do better generally gets you to your goals.  So I would like to say we give the current board 2017 to input the changes and see if this shows improvement in the Tigers results.

 

Also a suggestion for the Focus on Football group. Next time you have a press conference don’t hold it in an old Richmond gym.  Majority of Richmond members these days don’t live or have grown up in Richmond so pulling at the heartstrings is not the way to go.

 

PS if you need Balmy’s number I can pass it on to you.

About Vaughan Menlove

Obsessed with Richmond, Luton Town, Melbourne Victory and Arsenal. The Dr had a soccer career hampered by the realisation he was crap, but could talk his way around the game. Co host of It's Not Called Soccer podcast

Comments

  1. I thought Focus on Football was Harry Beitzel’s ABC2 Friday evening preview show in the 60s….

  2. Guru Gus - Singapore says

    You got Balmey!

    This bloodless coup seems to have died a quiet death.

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