David Barham

All those blockbusters, probably more money, and more short-term upside weren't enough to persuade Alastair Clarkson to choose Essendon over North ...

Dissection of just how and why a coach loses his players is a fraught exercise but one consistent anti-coach view was that he had not formed the necessary relationships with enough of his players. It was this mentality that led to Sheedy’s appointment to the board. Having landed the club in this embarrassing position might well prove the inevitable starting point to finally reshape the under-performing Bombers. Unfortunately for Campbell he was unable to control those forces largely because of the split across the football operation but also because of the anti-Rutten noise coming from a section of senior players. But his occasionally messy weekly gig on Adelaide’s 5AA several days later suggested Clarkson would be a better fit for North Melbourne in part because he could potentially relocate the club to Tasmania. For all Campbell has achieved in his challenging time at Essendon, he has never managed to adequately transport the club into the modern professional era. Not to mention it would seem a contravention of board etiquette directed at another club. Campbell would rightly say that there was unity across the four pivotal roles at the football club from former president Paul Brasher through to the CEO, football boss and senior coach. He might not agree, but the aforementioned messiah complex was never better demonstrated than by this week’s emerging campaign to reinstate James Hird as coach of the club. This coup might not have been all about Clarkson but the possible availability of the so-called greatest coach of the past 20 years drove last week’s dramatic board-room takeover and certainly for now defines the opening gambit of Barham’s leadership. That there are people still holding senior roles at the club who remain so mired in the past defies logic. Essendon’s pursuit of Clarkson could have ended differently if the timing had not been so appalling.