Maybe the administration did fail Lyon?

[SydneySainter]

Lyon seems pretty adamant that they did.

If he was asking for a three year extension, which took the club all year to draft, then that's pretty sloppy administration.

Not that it excuse's the way Lyon has left the club, but still, the administration prides itself on a new era of stability, ridding St. Kilda of it's old ways, yet they let this happen.

[SainterK]

I thought he got given 3 years, and he asked for 4?

So I assume next years would of been void, and the 3 years would of commenced next year.

Contract would of been up until 2014, hardly the slap in the face he was implying.

He is a career coach, everything he said yesterday justified that as his means.

Pretty sure he was open to the highest bidder, despite what he implied.

[saintspremiers]

Lyon seems pretty adamant that they did.

If he was asking for a three year extension, which took the club all year to draft, then that's pretty sloppy administration.

Not that it excuse's the way Lyon has left the club, but still, the administration prides itself on a new era of stability, ridding St. Kilda of it's old ways, yet they let this happen.

Do you believe anything Ro$$ Lying has to say?

I don't.

Are you related to barks by any chance?

[SaintPav]

Lyon seems pretty adamant that they did.

If he was asking for a three year extension, which took the club all year to draft, then that's pretty sloppy administration.

Not that it excuse's the way Lyon has left the club, but still, the administration prides itself on a new era of stability, ridding St. Kilda of it's old ways, yet they let this happen.

Would you be comfortable giving Lyon a 3 or 4 year extension only half way through his contract when we were 1 and seven with membership down probably due to our style of play?

[SaintWal]

Lyon seems pretty adamant that they did.

If he was asking for a three year extension, which took the club all year to draft, then that's pretty sloppy administration.

Not that it excuse's the way Lyon has left the club, but still, the administration prides itself on a new era of stability, ridding St. Kilda of it's old ways, yet they let this happen.

Do you believe anything Ro$$ Lying has to say?

I don't.

Are you related to barks by any chance?

Exactly

He can hardly preach any other slant on the proceedings can he?

[Dr Spaceman]

As I have suggested elsewhere, it is possible for an admin to really rate a bloke and to really want to keep him but to still have some doubts about him.

I suspect there may have been a little bit of that going on here. 

And perhaps RL's actions and words have justified any such reservations.

To many the Members of the Board are simply an easy target.

[skeptic]

I don't know

Most people genuinely don't want to move around.

I would have thought that Ross would have liked to have stayed and finish what he started... I would have thought he had pride in the work he had done here.

If that was the case, given that he was contracted next year and knew an extension wasn't far away I don't think the timing of a few months would have made that much difference.
I think everyone knew over the last 4 months that St.Kilda would not dump Ross Lyon.



The story I've tended to believe is that RL was very close to quitting in the off-season due to those "scandals".

He stayed... kept his job... raised his stocks but in the back of his mind, decided to keep his eyes open for a better opportunity.

He was never going to go to Melb because there is too much curve ball about that club at the moment... poor resources, unpredictable management etc

Freo on the other hand provide a much different proposition
- talented list
- excellent resources
- can pay him more


I don't think it's about us jerking him around... I think he wants to coach a premiership side... saw opportunity with Freo... stars aligned and he took it.



The gamble for him is that Freo is the last club he will eer coach IMO. If he doesn't deliver at Freo, he's finished - if he does, he'll never leave

[Enrico_Misso]

Your coach is like your top players.
If you want them - you lock them away.

Our incompetent Board left him manging for 6 months - from April till September.
In an environment where coaching vacancies were certain to come up.

No use that incompetent clown Westaway now looking stunned and saying he thought the deal was done.
He should have done it in April.

[meher baba]

When they didn't immediately give Lyon his 3 or 4 year extension in April, did he tell the club that he needed it by early Septembet or he would start talking to other clubs?

As far as I can see, he left the club and his even own management that he was going to go through a bit of argy bargy at the end of the year about terms and conditions and $$$ and then sign up. He left all parties other than Freo under this impression until Thursday afternoon. Then he never even gave the club a chance to match Freo's offer.

On the contrary, he waited till he had a firm offer from us and then presumably used it to up Freo's offer.

I'm not as judgmental about what he did as the rest of you are, but I firmly believe he was the perpetrator of it all, not some sort of victim.

[SainterK]

Your coach is like your top players.
If you want them - you lock them away.

Our incompetent Board left him manging for 6 months - from April till September.
In an environment where coaching vacancies were certain to come up.

No use that incompetent clown Westaway now looking stunned and saying he thought the deal was done.
He should have done it in April.

Don't fall for it Enrico.

He was open to the highest bidder.

[bigred]

Your coach is like your top players.
If you want them - you lock them away.

Our incompetent Board left him manging for 6 months - from April till September.
In an environment where coaching vacancies were certain to come up.

No use that incompetent clown Westaway now looking stunned and saying he thought the deal was done.
He should have done it in April.

He still had a year to go remember.

BOTH parties agreed to wait until the end of the year.

Yes they could have done it quicker. Of course they could have.

But the fucker knew it was coming.

[kaos theory]

Your coach is like your top players.
If you want them - you lock them away.

Our incompetent Board left him manging for 6 months - from April till September.
In an environment where coaching vacancies were certain to come up.

No use that incompetent clown Westaway now looking stunned and saying he thought the deal was done.
He should have done it in April.

Rubbish.

He and the club came to an AGREEMENT to sort it out at the end of the yr. His representative management and the club came to an arrangement and all including RL gave no indication of anything no being right.

He is a mercenary snake in the grass. Deal with the facts.

[The Craw]

I see no reason why the St Kilda board had to lock in his contract in April. Theoretically at that time there was 2 years left. I would have thought that from a negotiation point of view there was plenty of time then. Fast forward to September, after season was over and there were vacancies, the negotiations were escalated. Even though there was still 1 year to run.

The fact of the matter is he has gone to a club that already had a coach. Not one of the clubs seeking one. To me that speaks volumes.

Lyon B@stard has no moral values what so ever.

In the end the Karma police will even it up.

[whiskers3614]

Dirty Dog should have been shown the door after BALL/LOVETT debacles.

[spert]

Don't trust anything Lyon says- if I was a Freo player I wouldn't and that's for sure. Lyon is a money grabber and clearly has a bigger ego than any of us thought.

[skeptic]

On the contrary, he waited till he had a firm offer from us and then presumably used it to up Freo's offer.

Don't know if I agree with it but what a ripper of an observation and you're right... he never gave us a chance to match the offer

[Plugger87]

NO!!! Lyin put off talks not the administration. Thats his excuse for being a money hungry dog!!

[Dr Spaceman]

Well if we had've locked him in we would never have learned of his fascinating thoughts on money, loyalty, opportunity etc.

I for one am glad we found out.

And having found out, I for one am glad he's gone.

[SainterK]

On the contrary, he waited till he had a firm offer from us and then presumably used it to up Freo's offer.

Don't know if I agree with it but what a ripper of an observation and you're right... he never gave us a chance to match the offer

Of course it is true.

You must also realise he knew his 'value' was at his highest, and to hit the marketplace.

I must say I now wonder why, what did he see in his crystal ball?

[SainterK]

Well if we had've locked him in we would never have learned of his fascinating thoughts on money, loyalty, opportunity etc.

I for one am glad we found out.

And having found out, I for one am glad he's gone.

Oh come now, he may not of been loyal, but he was commmitted

[faircatfan]

I think he said somewhere it was a bit about financial security etc. I reckon if yer got enough confidence in what ya doing, in a highly paid field, then the dollars will automatically look after themselvesanyway. If however you are a mercenary ( yes i include one G Ablett in this) it sheds a different light on it IMHO.

[goodie]

If they dragged their feet, might be because they thought they had time to. It was an extension, not a new contract

[meher baba]

I would add that the whole thing looks far worse because of Lyon's shocking performance at his press conference, which I have only just had time to watch.

Bagging the Saints - a total no-no, he should never have done it.

Career coach - tick

Family always comes first - tick

The Freo offer was far better in lots of ways (not just $$$) than what the saints could offer and I had no choice but to take it - tick

We've gone along way together and it was time for me to move on and let some fresh ideas into the club - he didn't quite say this, but he should have

the saints are a great club and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity they gave me when I was a nobody - should have said this too

I blame the saints for not trying harder to keep me - never, never, ever under any circumstances say this unless you think they were actually trying to get rid of you

very, very poor performance. Won him no friends in the AFL world

[satchmo]

In the end the Karma police will even it up.

And we all know that the Karma Police wear purple!

ro$$ has shown his true colours. The purple people eaters will get mighty nervous if they don't get instant results, given that there has been some pretty ugly publicity from all this. He will carry that baggage around with him til he drops.

And now we all know his take on loyalty, he will have a hard time using that to convince players/staff to hang around. But I do wonder why they bothered with a contract at all?

[St Lenny]

He put off talks to the end of the season, so thats crap. St Kilda offered him what he wanted. He could have easily told Freo that he had the offer he was after and didnt want to shift to the other side of the country.

I believe for what ever reason he wanted to go. I do think he is a good coach however, his biggest flaw is, he cant develop young players. Maybe thats why he left. Only time will tell at Freo.