Blight bags Thomas in Biography by Watson

[spert]

I just hope that one day, one of the St.Kilda staff that had to put up with Blight's "weird" behaviour has the courage to write about it. People like Brian Phelan the HR Manager, Waldo and GT himself. From smoking in the coaches box against Essendon and throwing up his hands in defeat after ten minutes, to tearing strips off people for no apparent reason and for just plain old absenteeism, Malcolm the "Super Coach" did it all. The clincher was when Butterss and Thomas asked him for his master plan for the club. A one page document with several bullet points on it was the last straw, I'm led to believe. I wish GT would unload on him to set the record straight once and for all. He was lazy, uncommitted and bizarre to put it mildly. Thoroughly deserved his fate.

I suppose Blight could have just written down- premiership coach '97 and premiership player and passed the paper to Butters and GT and said "now show me your quals"

[remboy]

As above.....

Also

Had grant had any other coaching experience....experience in the afl box...

Warnambool, north melbourne, old xavs, st kilda.... Plus he played in the caper for nearly ten years and was a state rep...

It is made out as if was a complete novice.....

Voss and hird are novices....

Spot on. What credentials do any first time coaches have? Sitting in the box watching the coach do his job? Moving the witches hats at training?
I've always thought a senior coach to be should at least take charge of a VFL side and see watch it's like ot be in control of a team.

I still can't believe this thread is into it's 5th page and there's no sign of Barks. Somoeone might want to check that he's ok.
Then again he's probably still typing up his 20000 word response.

[barks4eva]

The day Thomas appointed himself coach and paid himself $500,000 a year from the get go was the day that set this club up for a decade or more of sustained failure.

At every turn he ******* it up, even the decision to draft Ball before Judd as an aside has cost us at least three premierships already.

If only he listened to Butterss who coached Judd in the U14's and suggested to Thomas that we should draft him.

St kilda had the best list in the AFL in 2004, 2005 but due to the serial incompetence of a rookie coach with next to no tactical ability the whole thing went pear shaped.

Check all 16 AFL playing lists in those years, only Geelong and West Coast came close.

The single unprecedented biggest draft bonanza in AFL/VFL history due to having bottomed out for five years running ensured the club would rise up to the top of the ladder, this was inevitable even if either of Forrest Gump, Gomer Pyle, The Marx brothers, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, The Two Ronnies, The Three Stooges and Monty Pythons Flying Circus had of been appointed.


The REALITY is the club only got better because we had the best playing list in the AFL, not for any other reason.

Sure Thomas did some great things like using two draft picks PICK 6 and throwing a second rounder to sweeten the deal as if PICK 6 was not enough already for Barry Brooks, bit I digress.

The reason the club has not won a premiership since Thomas was appointed is because Thomas was appointed.

Any wonder why Misson was flabbergasted at how unprofessional "training services were upon his arrival!

Unfortunately for the club amateur hour lasted for five and a half years and with the best playing list in the AFL our biggest chance to seriously establish this club for decades of sustained success was pissed up against the wall.

Thomas inherited a dream list from heaven and in five years managed to send it half way to hell and the belief cloud more resembled a mushroom.

Even Clarkson snagged one three to four years after their mini draft bonanza.

Carlton are not currently playing like they are because Ratten is an amazing coach, it's solely and wholly because they received so many draft picks from having bottomed out for five years.

[Spinner]

The day Thomas appointed himself coach and paid himself $500,000 a year from the get go was the day that set this club up for a decade or more of sustained failure.

At every turn he ******* it up, even the decision to draft Ball before Judd as an aside has cost us at least three premierships already.

If only he listened to Butterss who coached Judd in the U14's and suggested to Thomas that we should draft him.

St kilda had the best list in the AFL in 2004, 2005 but due to the serial incompetence of a rookie coach with next to no tactical ability the whole thing went pear shaped.

Check all 16 AFL playing lists in those years, only Geelong and West Coast came close.

The single unprecedented biggest draft bonanza in AFL/VFL history due to having bottomed out for five years running ensured the club would rise up to the top of the ladder, this was inevitable even if either of Forrest Gump, Gomer Pyle, The Marx brothers, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, The Two Ronnies, The Three Stooges and Monty Pythons Flying Circus had of been appointed.


The REALITY is the club only got better because we had the best playing list in the AFL, not for any other reason.

Sure Thomas did some great things like using two draft picks PICK 6 and throwing a second rounder to sweeten the deal as if PICK 6 was not enough already for Barry Brooks, bit I digress.

The reason the club has not won a premiership since Thomas was appointed is because Thomas was appointed.

Any wonder why Misson was flabbergasted at how unprofessional "training services were upon his arrival!

Unfortunately for the club amateur hour lasted for five and a half years and with the best playing list in the AFL our biggest chance to seriously establish this club for decades of sustained success was pissed up against the wall.

Thomas inherited a dream list from heaven and in five years managed to send it half way to hell and the belief cloud more resembled a mushroom.

Even Clarkson snagged one three to four years after their mini draft bonanza.

Carlton are not currently playing like they are because Ratten is an amazing coach, it's solely and wholly because they received so many draft picks from having bottomed out for five years.

100% Spot on.


Except the drafting, not enough to go on coaching 13 year olds. Everything else spot on.

[InkerSaint]

Austinnn's post is right on the money. And I think we moved GT on at the right time. The job was going to kill him sooner or later, and getting the Football First lot in got us further up the scale in terms of professionalism. RL and Misson have moved us on so much that we are unrecognisable from 5-6 years ago.

Saints infighting has always been the achilles heel of the club, and I hope we always see loyalty and a measured response to any crisis from now on.

Austinnn has done a fantastic job in summarising where the club sat in the larger milieu of the competition a decade ago. One of the best posts I've seen on the subject, ever.

Somewhere between Austinnn's and B4E's points about Thomas emerges a character who divides opinion on his abilities, but used a combination of the team's on-field success and his own big-business savvy to terrorise the competition into a new perception of an old basketcase.

That it took so long to recognise and act on the flaws apparent at the time goes to show how far the club still needed to come.

Austinnn argues, "Maybe all the good stuff could have happened anyway, maybe someone else could have done a better job, but who?" and it's one of those things we'll never know, like whether Lyon made the right calls on Hudghton and Ball in the 09 GF.

It would be nice to simply give Thomas the credit he deserves, acknowledge that he had his flaws, his time was well up if not sooner, Butterss butchered the handling of his exit, and there are those who would view the closure of his association with the Saints (and conduct since then) unfavourably.

The club has evolved light years - some of the supporter base has not, and every now and then some of these dinosaurs still pop up to remind us of where we've been.

As for the haters: recognise those for the dinosaurs they are, too. The majority of them have been on the receiving end of some unholy beltings from our mob in the last decade.

This is the new St. Kilda. We know what needs to be done.

[BigMart]

I would have to say you have underrated a few lists in thpse years Barks..

Port Power finished minor premiers in
02, 03, 04
You dont do that by accident...cornes, cornes, wanganeen, primus, lade, tredrea, francou, james, burgoyne, burgoyne, kingsley, stevens

Brisbane just came off 3 flags
Brown, black, lappin, power, voss, aker, scott, johnson, leppitch, bradshaw
Not bad cattle in 04-05

Adelaide we very strong in tjat perod
Riccutio, mcleod, goodwin, burton, edwards, rutten, bock, johncock
A really good outfit

Sydney were very solid
Goodes, o'loughlin, bolten, o'keefe, bolten J, kennelly, hall, schnieder

Wce wre formidable
Cox, kerr, judd, cousins, glass, embley, wirrpanda

Then of course Geelong

It isnt always that easy.....


On the drafting of Ball

He was rated by most experts and coaches as the best.....hodge was a gutsy move, and a surprise....it worked.

If we listened to tje president who coached a kid in under 14 that would be amatuerish....particularly if Ball carroed in his 2004-2005 form...where he finished 3rd and 1st in the b&f by 21yo and was captain at 22..

His 06 injury was sad in many ways...as it cut down a potential elite browlow level mid, into a working class mid

[stinger]

And the court thing
If the guys owed money......he should be paid.
Why do people on here act like people working for the club should devote themselves like supporters....its a job, their livlihood....not a bit of weekend fun
Should people forego a few 100k just to help out their employers and satisfy annonymous supporters, who only like them for the jumper they wear
I mean, who the F*** does that

Thomas was not an employee of the club. His services were contracted on a substantial six-figure sum via a business enitity of which he was the director, with all the tax breaks that that entails. Annual leave should have been nothing to do with the club just as payroll tax and insurance would not have been.

He got his pound of flesh, and more.

not what the court found or said....

[InkerSaint]

And the court thing
If the guys owed money......he should be paid.
Why do people on here act like people working for the club should devote themselves like supporters....its a job, their livlihood....not a bit of weekend fun
Should people forego a few 100k just to help out their employers and satisfy annonymous supporters, who only like them for the jumper they wear
I mean, who the F*** does that

Thomas was not an employee of the club. His services were contracted on a substantial six-figure sum via a business enitity of which he was the director, with all the tax breaks that that entails. Annual leave should have been nothing to do with the club just as payroll tax and insurance would not have been.

He got his pound of flesh, and more.

not what the court found or said....

All the court decision counts for, is who wins the dispute... not a moral high ground. Or you can claim that if you want. It's only your opinion.

Not sure why you would care so much about one man's claim to the club's money, to which we have all contributed. A man who was already handsomely rewarded. A man whose terms were agreed to by another who was his creditor for a substantial sum.

Check the reports... Westaway disagreed with the decision - of course he would - otherwise they would have settled before the court action. He threatened to appeal... sometimes it's not worth the time, resources or publicity to pursue.

[stinger]

Not sure why you would care so much about one man's claim to the club's money, to which we have all contributed. A man who was already handsomely rewarded.
.

i actually only care about employees not being done over by their employers....so did the court...hence it's decision.....if thomas wasn't legally owed the money as you state...the court would not have awarded mim any money.....it's as simple as that......doesn't mean pple acept the decision.....a bit like umpires never get it right.....it wasn;t the club's money...or ours...it was thomas'money....

[Johnny Member]

I just hope that one day, one of the St.Kilda staff that had to put up with Blight's "weird" behaviour has the courage to write about it. People like Brian Phelan the HR Manager, Waldo and GT himself. From smoking in the coaches box against Essendon and throwing up his hands in defeat after ten minutes, to tearing strips off people for no apparent reason and for just plain old absenteeism, Malcolm the "Super Coach" did it all. The clincher was when Butterss and Thomas asked him for his master plan for the club. A one page document with several bullet points on it was the last straw, I'm led to believe. I wish GT would unload on him to set the record straight once and for all. He was lazy, uncommitted and bizarre to put it mildly. Thoroughly deserved his fate.

I suppose Blight could have just written down- premiership coach '97 and premiership player and passed the paper to Butters and GT and said "now show me your quals"

Maybe Denis Pagan did something similar at Carlton!

Unfortunately for those that believe a premiership medallion means they walk on water, times change. And really, they can become as irrelevant and lost as those that never won one, in a very short period of time.

[Johnny Member]

Somewhere between Austinnn's and B4E's points about Thomas emerges a character who divides opinion on his abilities, but used a combination of the team's on-field success and his own big-business savvy to terrorise the competition into a new perception of an old basketcase.

I reckon that's the crux of the entire 'Thomas Vs. Saintsational' issue.


There are those that wanted him out, who stna dby it and are like a dog with a bone to justify their stance at the time.
And there are those who now think he's a s*** bloke - and due to that tend to rewrite history and perhaps underrate his coaching ability/record.


And there are those (me!) who think most AFL coaches are s*** blokes and that's generally what makes them so good at it! So they don't confuse a bloke's averageness with what they did as an AFL coach.

[InkerSaint]

i actually only care about employees not being done over by their employers....so did the court...hence it's decision.....if thomas wasn't legally owed the money as you state...the court would not have awarded mim any money.....it's as simple as that......doesn't mean pple acept the decision.....a bit like umpires never get it right.....it wasn;t the club's money...or ours...it was thomas'money....

Whatever your opinion of the decision - if you're going to argue semantics then at least be accurate with the terms - not an employee and employer - but a contractor and client.

[Austinnn]

Austinnn's post is right on the money. And I think we moved GT on at the right time. The job was going to kill him sooner or later, and getting the Football First lot in got us further up the scale in terms of professionalism. RL and Misson have moved us on so much that we are unrecognisable from 5-6 years ago.

Saints infighting has always been the achilles heel of the club, and I hope we always see loyalty and a measured response to any crisis from now on.

Austinnn has done a fantastic job in summarising where the club sat in the larger milieu of the competition a decade ago. One of the best posts I've seen on the subject, ever.

Somewhere between Austinnn's and B4E's points about Thomas emerges a character who divides opinion on his abilities, but used a combination of the team's on-field success and his own big-business savvy to terrorise the competition into a new perception of an old basketcase.

That it took so long to recognise and act on the flaws apparent at the time goes to show how far the club still needed to come.

Austinnn argues, "Maybe all the good stuff could have happened anyway, maybe someone else could have done a better job, but who?" and it's one of those things we'll never know, like whether Lyon made the right calls on Hudghton and Ball in the 09 GF.

It would be nice to simply give Thomas the credit he deserves, acknowledge that he had his flaws, his time was well up if not sooner, Butterss butchered the handling of his exit, and there are those who would view the closure of his association with the Saints (and conduct since then) unfavourably.

The club has evolved light years - some of the supporter base has not, and every now and then some of these dinosaurs still pop up to remind us of where we've been.

As for the haters: recognise those for the dinosaurs they are, too. The majority of them have been on the receiving end of some unholy beltings from our mob in the last decade.

This is the new St. Kilda. We know what needs to be done.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words. Honestly humbled and honoured.

I totally agree with Inker, and add that we have to start creating our own history, and not allow outsiders to take us back to where we were ever again. The threat of chopping Vic teams remains, and I don't need to tell anyone here that there will be far more pressure on us than on the Hawks, Tigers or Dons. The best we can hope for is sadly that North or Bulldogs are sacrificed. Or that Victoria's footy- following population soars.

We must continue the work of the last 10 years. Our priority should be uniting Saints supporters and building our supporter culture. The club have done their bit, now its time for us fans to evolve.

This is a separate rant I will articulate later!

[Austinnn]

As I recall, St Kilda were very impressed with Ball's reading of the game and leadership capabilities, as well as having his head screwed on right. After taking control of a club with a systemic cultural problem, who can blame them for targeting smart professional players.

One thing that still distinguishes Luke Ball, despite his deficiencies as a player, is his leadership and intelligence - although perhaps the latter was overrated as I remember him making one or two stupid and very costly interchange infringements. I think Ross decided that we had enough leaders, so focused instead on other things, found Ball lacking and the rest is history. I don't blame Ball for leaving, it doesn't make him a mercenary in my book, just ambitious. Not content to be a role player.

If anything, I often think that GT's recruiting leaders strategy was a bit over-egged. I think a good team needs a few good leaders and lots of role-players. He seemed like he wanted a team of captains at times. Ball, Riewoldt, BJ, Joey, as well as Lenny, Hamill, Harves all potential leaders. Or maybe he was just ahead of the game. Recruiting leaders for the next 15 years, knew inevitably some would leave or retire.

Maybe its time to revive the captaincy rotation concept. Roo looks like he could do with a break.

[evertonfc]

Grant Thomas restored the dignity and integrity in the football club when it was at rock bottom.

Actually, he gave the place the dignity and integrity it had almost never known, save for the time under Allan Jeans.

At the time of Blight's dismissal, I was shattered. I'll never forget how and where I heard the news. I spent the next 30 minutes speechless and trying to comprehend how it all happened.

But in retrospect, I understand why it happened. Blight's commitment was questionable. He seemed tired before he'd even taken the job.

GT may not have had a track record in the elite, but we went from also-rans into playing the most exciting and effective football the club had probably ever played to that point. [Our 2004 team was on a different wave to the 1997 team - look at the squads if you don't believe me. In 1997, all the big teams of previous years - WCE, Roos, Carlton, Ess, Syd - really struggled, and a team from 4th snuck through to win it, and 5th a year later.]

But GT changed the direction of the club. That can't be disputed.

We believed we were a decent club. We became a decent club.

The foundations of recent 'success' were laid by GT.

[maverick]

Grant Thomas restored the dignity and integrity in the football club when it was at rock bottom.

Actually, he gave the place the dignity and integrity it had almost never known, save for the time under Allan Jeans.

At the time of Blight's dismissal, I was shattered. I'll never forget how and where I heard the news. I spent the next 30 minutes speechless and trying to comprehend how it all happened.

But in retrospect, I understand why it happened. Blight's commitment was questionable. He seemed tired before he'd even taken the job.

GT may not have had a track record in the elite, but we went from also-rans into playing the most exciting and effective football the club had probably ever played to that point. [Our 2004 team was on a different wave to the 1997 team - look at the squads if you don't believe me. In 1997, all the big teams of previous years - WCE, Roos, Carlton, Ess, Syd - really struggled, and a team from 4th snuck through to win it, and 5th a year later.]

But GT changed the direction of the club. That can't be disputed.

We believed we were a decent club. We became a decent club.

The foundations of recent 'success' were laid by GT.

I remember where I was when Blight was sacked as well.
I was in London and got a call from my Pies mate at 1am in the morning...
For the rest of the night I couldn't sleep, all i did was trawl the net for more info...
The next day malcolm disappeared from my screensaver...
Sad days....

[bigcarl]

The day Thomas appointed himself coach and paid himself $500,000 a year from the get go was the day that set this club up for a decade or more of sustained failure.

At every turn he ******* it up, even the decision to draft Ball before Judd as an aside has cost us at least three premierships already.

If only he listened to Butterss who coached Judd in the U14's and suggested to Thomas that we should draft him.

St kilda had the best list in the AFL in 2004, 2005 but due to the serial incompetence of a rookie coach with next to no tactical ability the whole thing went pear shaped.

Check all 16 AFL playing lists in those years, only Geelong and West Coast came close.

The single unprecedented biggest draft bonanza in AFL/VFL history due to having bottomed out for five years running ensured the club would rise up to the top of the ladder, this was inevitable even if either of Forrest Gump, Gomer Pyle, The Marx brothers, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, The Two Ronnies, The Three Stooges and Monty Pythons Flying Circus had of been appointed.


The REALITY is the club only got better because we had the best playing list in the AFL, not for any other reason.

Sure Thomas did some great things like using two draft picks PICK 6 and throwing a second rounder to sweeten the deal as if PICK 6 was not enough already for Barry Brooks, bit I digress.

The reason the club has not won a premiership since Thomas was appointed is because Thomas was appointed.

Any wonder why Misson was flabbergasted at how unprofessional "training services were upon his arrival!

Unfortunately for the club amateur hour lasted for five and a half years and with the best playing list in the AFL our biggest chance to seriously establish this club for decades of sustained success was pissed up against the wall.

Thomas inherited a dream list from heaven and in five years managed to send it half way to hell and the belief cloud more resembled a mushroom.

Even Clarkson snagged one three to four years after their mini draft bonanza.

Carlton are not currently playing like they are because Ratten is an amazing coach, it's solely and wholly because they received so many draft picks from having bottomed out for five years.

Did he tip you out of the coach's box or something? You certainly have an axe to grind.

[Sainternist]

I still don't understand why there is still all this praise for GT... Are we still living in 2006

IMO, if you're still upset about GT's departure from St.Kilda FC, you may as well jump in Doc Brown's DeLorean.

Perhaps GT's coaching was good in many ways, but at the end of the day, it was all about himself.

He and Rod Butterss could have taken the club much, much further backwards with their behind the scenes shenanigans.

Fortunately, the likes of Greg Westaway, Nathan Burke and Andrew Thompson were there for when the club needed them most.

Thank god people like Malcolm Blight, Grant Thomas and Rod Butterss have no influence over the club and (hopefully) never will, ever again.

[White Winmar]

I just hope that one day, one of the St.Kilda staff that had to put up with Blight's "weird" behaviour has the courage to write about it. People like Brian Phelan the HR Manager, Waldo and GT himself. From smoking in the coaches box against Essendon and throwing up his hands in defeat after ten minutes, to tearing strips off people for no apparent reason and for just plain old absenteeism, Malcolm the "Super Coach" did it all. The clincher was when Butterss and Thomas asked him for his master plan for the club. A one page document with several bullet points on it was the last straw, I'm led to believe. I wish GT would unload on him to set the record straight once and for all. He was lazy, uncommitted and bizarre to put it mildly. Thoroughly deserved his fate.

I suppose Blight could have just written down- premiership coach '97 and premiership player and passed the paper to Butters and GT and said "now show me your quals"

I suppose he could have done that Spert. It would have been nice if he actually made the slightest of efforts to live up to his impressive CV. His behaviour was disgraceful. The way he took the money and did SFA in return says a lot about him and his state of mind at the time. Should never have taken the job. The club had every right to expect he had a blueprint for future success. GT even tried to help him draw one up in a last minute bid to ensure things settled down. Unfortunately for Malcolm, he drove off while GT stood dumbfounded out the front of Blight's house. You know the rest.

[Saints Angel]

[quote="thejiggingsaint"] Watson? Malcolm Blight? Who gives a blights toss bag about THEIR opinion? [/quote]

What could of , may of been. Move on - this is 2011 and the current group are charged with winning a flag. No sense looking back.

[Johnny Member]

I still don't understand why there is still all this praise for GT... Are we still living in 2006

There was just an article written about it.

Which is why this thread was created.

IMO, if you're still upset about GT's departure from St.Kilda FC, you may as well jump in Doc Brown's DeLorean.

I haven't actually read anyone say they are upset that he's not at the club.

This thread is based on an article written about a bygone era, and people seem to be commenting on that era.



It's all pretty harmless I would have thought.

[Johnny Member]

Watson? Malcolm Blight? Who gives a blights toss bag about THEIR opinion?

What could of , may of been. Move on - this is 2011 and the current group are charged with winning a flag. No sense looking back.

So you don't talk about, reflect, wonder, imagine all the thousands of amazing things that have happened, should have happened, may have happened over the hundreds of years of Aussie Rules footy?

Man, I do. I love footy history, and I love discussing it.


For a supporter, history really is all you have. You have no control or input into the future, so why not appreciate the past!

[bobmurray]

GT was good for the Saints in the time he was coach but how come Rendell
never gets a mention considering he was GT's right hand man...how much influence did he really have...

I never heard anyone pining for the Tim Watson era during GT's reign either...

The fact he didn't get them to a Grand Final was costly but the control freak thing is due to his own stupidity...

[White Winmar]

Matt Rendell? Doing a bang up job as list manager at the crows. Thank goodness he went when he did. Slowly driving the crows list into the ground.

[stinger]

get go

a term only used by wankers...imho that is....