Matt Rendell situation thread # 4

[Allefgib]

having now read the Davey article as well I'd sugest the following:

Rendell met with Mifsud and had a conversation that was borderline offensive to some - nothing was said at the time.
Davey met with Mifsud and talked a little about Neeld's desire to provide the right environment for individuals and sub-groups within the team to have informaiton communicated to them.

Mifsud twists both sets of meetings to suit his agenda.

Mifsud is not really cut out for his job and can't keep his 'stories' straight and ends up hanging himself, and Rendell, out to dry.

Just a possibility that fits with what we know. I'd be surprised if its less accurate than the way he has communicated information...

 

[SydCrow]

having now read the Davey article as well I'd sugest the following:

Rendell met with Mifsud and had a conversation that was borderline offensive to some - nothing was said at the time.
Davey met with Mifsud and talked a little about Neeld's desire to provide the right environment for individuals and sub-groups within the team to have informaiton communicated to them.

Mifsud twists both sets of meetings to suit his agenda.

Mifsud is not really cut out for his job and can't keep his 'stories' straight and ends up hanging himself, and Rendell, out to dry.

Just a possibility that fits with what we know. I'd be surprised if its less accurate than the way he has communicated information...

sounds about right to me too

From the Mifsud/Davey story:

The statement concludes: "AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou said the AFL was pleased that Jason Mifsud and Aaron Davey had met each other today, and had talked this issue through to a resolution. The AFL now considers the matter to be closed."

Is that right Andrew?

 

[Slippery Pete]

Apologies for being a bit behind on this, but what was actually said in the blog?

 

[Dirty Bird]

Here we are with number 4.

wow, this is still going?
Could someone give me a review of the last 1,500 posts or so?
I stopped caring about this around the NAB Cup Grand Final or so.

Rendell found a new job yet?

 

[SydCrow]

Apologies for being a bit behind on this, but what was actually said in the blog?

go back one page and all is revealed Pete

 

[Hank93]

wow, this is still going?
Could someone give me a review of the last 1,500 posts or so?
I stopped caring about this around the NAB Cup Grand Final or so.

Rendell found a new job yet?

Me to! I was just going to post that. Surely this issue was dead in the water weeks ago.

 

[SydCrow]

Me to! I was just going to post that. Surely this issue was dead in the water weeks ago.

as long as Misfud is in a job and Rendell isn't, it will keep going

Vlad would like it to quietly disappear. Maintain the rage I say. An injustice was done and City Hall deserves to take the heat.

 

[afc1991]

as long as Misfud is in a job and Rendell isn't, it will keep going

Vlad would like it to quietly disappear. Maintain the rage I say. An injustice was done and City Hall deserves to take the heat.

This.

Id just like to hear a valid reason why rendell was sacked.

Its the most ridiculous situation Ive ever seen in football. They just treat us like idiots. "Nothing to see here."

 

[SydCrow]

This.

Id just like to hear a valid reason why rendell was sacked.

Its the most ridiculous situation Ive ever seen in football. They just treat us like idiots. "Nothing to see here."

this is why we need an independent media - not sure that we have one

you can count those who stood up to City Hall on this issue on the fingers of one hand

 

[Allefgib]

That was Grant Thomas with his middle finger raised wasn't it?

 

[afc1991]

this is why we need an independent media - not sure that we have one

you can count those who stood up to City Hall on this issue on the fingers of one hand

Robbo from 360 is interesting. He started off noting the farce. In the mifsud presser he asked vlad the kind of questions we want answers to. You could see what he was thinking.

The day the neeld/mifsud story broke he opened the 360 show with the story and made a comment like... 'and this makes the rendell situation even more intruging'. Good, here we go I thought

By the end of the show he was supporting mifsud. No mention of rendell.

'Dont write bad shit about us or we'll black list you.'

Someone made the point that only sam newman has the balls to tell it like it is, because he just doesnt give a eff.

 

[Freddy Bassett]

Robbo from 360 is interesting. He started off noting the farce. In the mifsud presser he asked vlad the kind of questions we want answers to. You could see what he was thinking.

The day the neeld/mifsud story broke he opened the 360 show with the story and made a comment like... 'and this makes the rendell situation even more intruging'. Good, here we go I thought

By the end of the show he was supporting mifsud. No mention of rendell.

'Dont write bad shit about us or we'll black list you.'

Someone made the point that only sam newman has the balls to tell it like it is, because he just doesnt give a eff.

You make a very good point. Thomas and Newman are the only two journalists in Australia that aren't puppets to Vlad

 

[SydCrow]

Robbo from 360 is interesting. He started off noting the farce. In the mifsud presser he asked vlad the kind of questions we want answers to. You could see what he was thinking.

The day the neeld/mifsud story broke he opened the 360 show with the story and made a comment like... 'and this makes the rendell situation even more intruging'. Good, here we go I thought

By the end of the show he was supporting mifsud. No mention of rendell.

'Dont write bad shit about us or we'll black list you.'

Someone made the point that only sam newman has the balls to tell it like it is, because he just doesnt give a eff.

yep, only the ones who aren't fed by City Hall have the nuts to stand up to them. Newman, Thomas, Richard Hinds in the Sydney Morning Herald, Robbo (partly). Ronnie Burns on the Marngrook footy show gets a special bravery award for asking the hard questions on the show that should have been actually providing some insight but didn't.

That's about it for the press. Neil Balme and now Mark Ricciuto. Anyone else?

 

[western royboy]

Robbo from 360 is interesting. He started off noting the farce. In the mifsud presser he asked vlad the kind of questions we want answers to. You could see what he was thinking.

The day the neeld/mifsud story broke he opened the 360 show with the story and made a comment like... 'and this makes the rendell situation even more intruging'. Good, here we go I thought

By the end of the show he was supporting mifsud. No mention of rendell.

'Dont write bad shit about us or we'll black list you.'

Someone made the point that only sam newman has the balls to tell it like it is, because he just doesnt give a eff.

Nail - Head - Bang!

People bag out Sam and GT whenever they get the chance, personally I love them because they call it as they see it, regardless of the ramifications. I rate Sam as one of the few intellects on the game, I was fortunate to sit near him during a game one day, all of his comments were spot on. GT is similar although he has some more wacky concepts particularly around rucks.

In any case following the apology it seems incongruous that Mifsud could keep his job.

This only highlights the power of Vlad and the role he has played in all of it.

It stinks to high heaven.

 

[afc1991]

I only raise the robbo one because it was like he was spoken to mid show. He was on the same bandwagon as us.

In answer to sydcrow, I reckon cornes openly calls it a shafting, and ditmarr supported rendel on air.

All the national journos seem to pull their heads in though.

The afl officials obviously got gagged on twitter too. Mifsud and ali deleted alot of tweets. And I think an essendon official deleted a convo re mifsud with crow-mo.

 

[western royboy]

I only raise the robbo one because it was like he was spoken to mid show. He was on the same bandwagon as us.

In answer to sydcrow, I reckon cornes openly calls it a shafting, and ditmarr supported rendel on air.

All the national journos seem to pull their heads in though.

I would agree with you and suggest the same thing happened on Footy Classified last week. Whately shut Robbo down mid sentence and when they came back from the break the issue had magically disappeared.

Similarly once the apology was read out on FC the discussion just finished.

Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this.

 

[SydCrow]

I only raise the robbo one because it was like he was spoken to mid show. He was on the same bandwagon as us.

In answer to sydcrow, I reckon cornes openly calls it a shafting, and ditmarr supported rendel on air.

All the national journos seem to pull their heads in though.

The afl officials obviously got gagged on twitter too. Mifsud and ali deleted alot of tweets. And I think an essendon official deleted a convo re mifsud with crow-mo.

glad to hear it - I don't get to hear them over here. Crow-mo lives????!!!

 

[SydCrow]

I would agree with you and suggest the same thing happened on Footy Classified last week. Whately shut Robbo down mid sentence and when they came back from the break the issue had magically disappeared.

Similarly once the apology was read out on FC the discussion just finished.

Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this.

except that unfortunately it's not a theory, it's reality in the Vladivostok that the AFL has become

 

[Allefgib]

he's on twitter.. i really should go follow him.

 

[Fergus]

Good to hear a club great agree that Rendell was hung out to dry. Those at the club today can't really comment for a number of reasons. I wonder how many at the club feel that way internally?

I couldn't agree more. The problem is that none of his questions will be acknowledged let alone answered.

To those that are still surprised this is still going - if you were shafted and lost your job wouldn't you appreciate someone sticking up for you. This is a dirty stain on our club and it's decision makers. We failed to support a guy that has given his all to football for over 30 years.

To those that say the AFC had no choice after Demetriou set the wheels in motion - I completely disagree. There is always a choice, and we took the soft option in this case. I am yet to hear a single person actually say that Rendell is a racist yet we chose to execute him immediately. I wouldn't want the decision makers to have my back in a fight - I reckon I'd be in strife!!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

having now read the Davey article as well I'd sugest the following:

Rendell met with Mifsud and had a conversation that was borderline offensive to some - nothing was said at the time.
Davey met with Mifsud and talked a little about Neeld's desire to provide the right environment for individuals and sub-groups within the team to have informaiton communicated to them.

Mifsud twists both sets of meetings to suit his agenda.

Mifsud is not really cut out for his job and can't keep his 'stories' straight and ends up hanging himself, and Rendell, out to dry.

Just a possibility that fits with what we know. I'd be surprised if its less accurate than the way he has communicated information...

I don't think this is the case. I think Misfud has unwittingly been dragged into this, isn't all that accustomed to dealing with the media but now that all the indigenous/multi-cultural stuff is hot topic of the month all of a sudden he has more and more media people speaking to him.

1. Rendell
I think the initial meeting with Rendell didn't offend Misfud in the slightest. He knows Rendell, understands that he is refreshingly (brutally and politically incorrectly) honest and says exactly what he thinks. He also would have understood that Rendell's academy idea had the best of intentions.

The 'offence' didn't occur until Misfud mentioned Rendell's throwaway line to Demetriou much later, not saying "You wouldn't believe the racism that's out there" but instead "We need to do more to help young indigenous players. One recruiter was even worried that..."

Vlad of course didn't get the point that Misfud was making and instead latched on to the uncouth comment. Who said that? I want names. We can't have that sort of thing being talked about. Etc.

So Misfud unwittingly drags Rendell into the middle of a Demetriou Anger Storm. Hence Misfud's 6-week delayed reaction to the offensive comments.

2. Davey
Very interested in Grant Thomas on Monday night. He still believes that Misfud was telling him the truth. Caro and the team didn't really probe this which was disappointing.

I got the impression that Grant believes this:
- Davey spoke with Misfud and mentioned the group meeting stuff
- Misfud mentioned it in a conversation with Thomas, not realising that Thomas would write an article about it
- Davey was furious that something he'd spoken to Misfud about in confidence was now public
- Rather than destroy Davey's relationship with his new coach, Misfud has instead said that 'he was wrong' with what he told Thomas
- So Misfud essentially fell on his sword. He knew no indigenous player will trust him again but that's ok because he was going to resign anyway as this was all getting a bit much for him
- His resignation isn't accepted by the AFL as Vlad doesn't want it to look as though anyone at the AFL has done anything wrong. A resignation would be an admission of guilt.

I'm not sure if that's right but it's certainly the impression Thomas gave on Monday night. I think he belives Misfud was telling the truth initially but has now been told (or decided himself) to lie to protect Davey.

 

[Allefgib]

Definitely plausible and probably explains thomas a bit more.

So what do you think of neelds defiance then? Or in your model is davey making it up?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Definitely plausible and probably explains thomas a bit more.

So what do you think of neelds defiance then? Or in your model is davey making it up?

I'm sure Neeld has met with the indigenous players individually too. He wouldn't deliberately be treating anyone differently.

However I can certainly see a club meeting with the indigenous players as a group, and it being intended as a positive thing. There is a special bond there - you see it after every game when indigenous players from both sides take time out for a chat, a laugh and to show respect.

What did the indigenous Port Power players call themselves? They had some name for their group. The indigenous mafia or something? They were proud of the bond they shared and that young indigenous players were made to feel embraced the minute they stepped into the club.

If I'm on the money, I reckon there would have been some meeting seen by Neeld as a positive and seen by Davey as a negative.

 

[jenny61_99]

Some of the Melbourne people were saying that Neeld did hold a meeting with the indigenous players after the Jurrah situation, trying to get a feel with how best to handle him, what they needed to do to help and support him. Davey may well have mentioned it to Mifsud and he added 1 + 1 and got 7,554!

The problem I have with your theory Carl, is that he didn't just shop the story to one journalist (his 'mate' Thomas), he also went to Caro and one other (can't recall now). They both called Neeld or Davey to verify the story and couldn't, so they didn't run with it. Thommo clearly didn't do verification. Davey apparently went to Mifsud after Thomas ran his story and said "Do we need to call him and set him straight?" - if that is the case, Mifsud definitely misrepresented what Davey told him.

Other conspiracy theorists believe that Thomas has stitched Mifsud up, as a payback for Rendell. Knowing that his story wasn't true, but releasing it anyway and then quickly recanting it when Neeld went public, he knew that the very fact that Mifsud had broken confidences again - but this time with an indigenous player - would be the straw that broke the camels back. I personally wouldn't put it past him.

 

[bjn1960]

Some of the Melbourne people were saying that Neeld did hold a meeting with the indigenous players after the Jurrah situation, trying to get a feel with how best to handle him, what they needed to do to help and support him. Davey may well have mentioned it to Mifsud and he added 1 + 1 and got 7,554!

The problem I have with your theory Carl, is that he didn't just shop the story to one journalist (his 'mate' Thomas), he also went to Caro and one other (can't recall now). They both called Neeld or Davey to verify the story and couldn't, so they didn't run with it. Thommo clearly didn't do verification. Davey apparently went to Mifsud after Thomas ran his story and said "Do we need to call him and set him straight?" - if that is the case, Mifsud definitely misrepresented what Davey told him.

Other conspiracy theorists believe that Thomas has stitched Mifsud up, as a payback for Rendell. Knowing that his story wasn't true, but releasing it anyway and then quickly recanting it when Neeld went public, he knew that the very fact that Mifsud had broken confidences again - but this time with an indigenous player - would be the straw that broke the camels back. I personally wouldn't put it past him.

Patrick Smith?