Review How will Mark Neeld be Remembered?

[Tulip]

When Dean Bailey was given the boot, we all rejoiced. Gone would be the days of players cancelling their own time trials, of 'playing the kids', of the tail wagging the dog!

Just over two years since Bailey walked the plank, most of us look back pretty fondly at 17 wins in 2 seasons.

Much like Julia Gillard, despite being unceremoniously driven out for very good reasons, history will look back reasonable kindly on Bailey's Melbourne FC.

Keeping in mind the vitriol towards Bailey that raged on from 186 until 148: How do you think Mark Neeld will be remembered.

At the moment, he's known as the man who:

• Traded away decent kids for duds.
• Recruited rubbish players through FA.
• Gave away our reining B&F winner for nothing.
• Destroyed the morale of the club.
• Won 5 games in 33.
• Nearly caused an exodus.
• Brought in subpar assistant coaches.
• Oversaw a period when we went from 'the next dominant side' to resident laughing stock.

However, he did do some things that may be looked upon far better.

• Ruthlessly brought in two proven quality forwards in Clark and Dawes.
• Oversaw the drafting of what appears to be our finest crop in years. When this thread is bumped in a few years time, there's no doubt some of these names will be as kindly remembered as Cale Morton and as fondly recalled as Tom MacNamara - but here goes. Jesse Hogan, Jimmy Toumpas, Jack Viney, Dean Kent, Matt Jones, Dean Terlich, Nathan Stark, Mitch Clisby.
• Attempted to implement a harder culture.

With Roos on board, and absolutely no realistic expectations weighing on his very capable shoulders, we may see some positives emerge from the Mark Neeld era after all.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not on the gear; his time at the club was a train wreck. I'm just doing some canvassing.

What do you think?

 

[Blackas87]

Who's Mark Neeld?

 

[hulkhogan1]

On the bottom of the toilet bowl.

 

[hulkhogan1]

Jokes aside, I don't think anyone wants to remember him. But as you said, he did some honourable things that we will thank him in a few years time (Clark, Dawes, the young blokes, etc). Another memorable thing that he did that I can't thank him enough for, was to trade Cale Morton.

 

[Dory_77]

His recruiting was very good, or rather, it should prove to be very good in the future. We've got KPP stocks for years (provided Hogan and Frawley don't piss off in the next couple of years) and hopefully have an improved fitness base.
However, the players' confidence had been shot to pieces. Though I guess in a way that's a good thing, as any coach who follows and isn't a total w***er would be seen as a lovely bloke; silver linings!

There were definitely some positives, however they won't really show through for another year or two so Neeld probably won't get the credit. Overall the Neeld era was a disaster, but its legacy may be more positive.

 

[Blackas87]

Picking Hogan with pick 3, Toumpas with pick 4 and Viney with a 2nd rounder is due to how bad Neeld was as a coach, picking the best teenagers with the best picks in the draft shouldn't be credited to Neeld.

Picking up Clark and Dawes has been good for us, but at the same time losing Moloney, Rivers and now Sylvia are just as bad in my option.

 

[Theo X]

He should be wiped from history.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

He made sure we recruited tall forwards for his deadly kick to kick game plan. Other than that a complete disaster. If he'd deliberately set out to destroy the club it would've been hard to do worse. We had a percentage of 50 FFS.

 

[LeverPuller]

Rightly as one of the worst coaches the club and the AFL has seen.

 

[Deefolt]

was never his fault... cant believe these threads are still going...

 

[RandB]

Who's Mark Neeld?

Pretty much this.

I only remember him when people remind me of him. Probably an inbuilt defence mechanism.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Neeld will be remembered for inspiring numerous pics here -> The Sh00p Thread

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

That guy who recruited Jesse Hogan.

 

[SuburbanMe]

I liked Mark Neeld, Still think he was dealt a harsh hand from start to finish. However, we were so bad, everyone needed to go, so he'll be remembered as a martyr I reckon.

 

[Dory_77]

I liked Mark Neeld, Still think he was dealt a harsh hand from start to finish. However, we were so bad, everyone needed to go, so he'll be remembered as a martyr I reckon.

'The recession we had to have'?

 

[Tulip]

was never his fault... cant believe these threads are still going...

What do you mean still? You weren't even on this board until the end of the year.

 

[jhong]

If it wasn't for Neeld ,we wouldn't have Roos , so i guess its a positive .

 

[Praetorian]

'The recession we had to have'?

this, the man whose coaching ineptitude was the catalyst for a clubwide rebuild that ultimately led to our first premiership in over 50 years (I hope). the recruitment of mitch and dawes will be a positive, but all the good drafting was due to the recruitment staff.

 

[autocol]

all the good drafting was due to the recruitment staff.

... and our insipid onfield performances providing top-three picks in an era of the expansion sides.

Honestly, I liked the way Neeld spoke, and I thought he was going to be a good-to-great coach. It's hard to argue with the results though...

 

[Demon 16]

As a coach who had the the worst man-management skills I've ever seen, and an even worse game plan.

 

[AFL is Number One]

Yeah he was bad.....probably our worst ever coach...and the funny thing is......we gave him 600 thousand bucks as a parting gift. Beautiful.

 

[SPC 98]

He will be rembered as the cat with the twitch and 4 catch phrases.. good bye Mark you turd!

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Much like Julia Gillard

Gillard = Bailey, Abbott = Neeld.

It neelded saying.

Or, as Bono might say...

Don't walk out of line. Don't think, don't worry. Everything's just fine. Just fine.
Don't baulk, don't kick, don't pass, don't run and get caught.
Don't hate, substantiate. Be straight (don't be Matty Bate)

 

[Deefolt]

What do you mean still? You weren't even on this board until the end of the year.

hes been sacked for quite a while lol, reckon there would have been some when he got sacked

 

[Cannon82]

The inspirational talk before the Essendon game was a terrible joke. Seems Neeld thought he was this and no one had the heart to tell him it was much closer to this.

Whether he could've been a good coach in a better environment, we'll never know as it's unlikely a club is going to take a punt on him after what he did here. He clearly was incapable of righting this ship so whether you liked the guy or not you have to say the club did the right thing (even without getting Roos on board).

Personally I hated the style of play he brought in and wouldn't credit him for the drafting. I don't think he had the final say on those calls or we'd have probably brought in a handful of 200+ cm players.